Bulls capital visit disappointment

Hamilton visited the capital for the first time this season but came away from Stewart’s Melville empty handed. This was another heavy defeat on the road, and the tone was set from the kick off when the Bulls were caught napping and Melvilles race in for the first converted score in the first minute of the match. From that point on Hamilton played as if in catch up mode.

They did steady the ship and we had 15 minutes of dogged defence in the glaur from both sides until Hamilton substitute, Ross Jamieson forced his way over for Bulls first converted try. 3 minutes later McLeish pushed them into the lead with a well struck penalty. However, they immediately found their backs to the wall again as Melvilles pushed hard to regain the lead, and as half time approached they struck twice to take a half time lead of 21 – 10.

Disaster struck Bulls again as they failed to deal with the kick-off return and Stew Mel took the ball deep into Bulls territory and forced their way over in the corner. Bulls did hit back immediately with well organised forward drive finished off by Scott Alexander, and converted by Owen McLeish, but that would be the end of Bulls scoring for the afternoon.

Stew Mel crossed twice more by the 60th minute for un unassailable lead. The final 20 minutes saw Hamilton trying to fight back. They played with width and clever handling, but on a heavy pitch and in fading light they could not find the key to unlock the Melville’s defence and the match ended Melville 38 Hamilton 17 for their 4th victory on the trot.

Bulls suffered the loss of centre Adam Ryan in the warm up and Ross Jamieson started the game leaving coach Kenny Brown short of options as the game wore on. After the match he said, “The heavy conditions played a big part in the game. We failed to play rugby in the right areas, and the team who were able to make fewer mistakes were came out on top. Stew Mel put us under a lot of pressure at the set piece, which meant we struggled to gain much meaningful possession. We defended well for long periods of the match, and the boys showed good spirit but just made too many errors at key times against a good stew Mel team.”

On a happier note, 18 year old Euan Ferrie, playing in his first season with the senior team, has been selected by Sean Lineen for the Scotland under 19 squad. Euan, who plays at lock forward, is a former pupil of Calderside Academy and a product of Hamilton’s youth development programme. Everyone at Hamilton Rugby is extremely proud of this achievement and wish Euan every success on the international scene.

Report by Jim Browning