After an indifferent start to the season in National Division 2, Hamilton saw the green shoots of recovery with a spirited draw against 4 th placed Falkirk. Conditions were excellent with only a gentle breeze behind them and Hamilton showed their attacking intent from the off. The platform for their early form in this match was laid by scrum dominance where young props Leggate and Dallas drove the scrum forward allowing the backs to play on the front foot.

Owen Mcleish opened the scoring on 4 minutes with a well struck penalty, won by the scrum, from the 10 metre line. The first try was worth waiting for as once again the forwards provided good ball which was transferred quickly to Inglis. His break was supported by Wilson who went in in the corner. Mcleish struck the conversion. The same combination was involved 2 minutes later when the ball was supplied by the forwards after several phases. Howatson made a half break, fed Inglis who outpaced the first line of defence before feeding back inside to Wilson and on to Howatson who finished off a lovely move which he had begun. Again the extras were added. Signs of this potential had been there in the earlier matches but the Bulls had been unable to capitalise.

As is common in such matches the tide did turn. The yellow card to Dallas gave Falkirk the encouragement they needed to reply and they id through their forwards who took a tap penalty and forced their way over close in. Hamilton replied immediately, with great handling in the backs to spin the ball wide to winger Burrell who forced his way over in the corner. With the extra man though Falkirk were on the front foot and on 32 minutes full back McKinnon found himself in space out wide and went over in the corner. Bulls’ defensive shape seemed to collapse, and when Howatson went off injured they struggled to reimpose themselves. Thus former Bull, Gregor Brodie, found himself in loads of space beside the ruck and danced over for a typical Brodie poached try. Bulls were missing too many first up tackles and let Falkirk into the game. They finished the half with another forwards’ try and then a successful penalty making it 22 – 29 at half time.

The half time break was welcomed by the Bulls who took the time to regather themselves and within 2 minutes of the restart Wilson drew the scores level with a try from deep in their own half. The ball was transferred right to winger Burrell who made good ground and quick ball was fed back to the other wing where Wilson’s pace saw him cross the whitewash after a bit of clever juggling. Again McLeish added the extras, despite kicking into and ever strengthening wind. Falkirk’s scrum seemed to undergo a complete change of character and began to hand out the same treatment to Hamilton as they had been subjected o in the first half. Under pressure, the Hamilton boys made a succession of uncharacteristic handling errors and coughed up ball to Falkirk’s sub, McNab who raced in under the posts.

Bulls playing against a really strong wind were finding it hard to clear their lines, but once again the good handling of the backs made ground into the opposition 22 and when the ball reached Andy Wilson he dived in for his hat-trick. Falkirk won a penalty in midfield with only minutes to go and kicked the points to extend their lead to 5. Hamilton looked out on their feet as they fought to regain parity and were denied by a combination of stuffy defence and handling errors under pressure. However in the last minute Craig Inglis on his return to action found himself free on the wing and outpaced the defence to score in the corner. Unfortunately McLeish’s conversion attempt fell just short against the wind.

In the end this was a great 3 points for Hamilton; the young players acquitted themselves well and as more players return from the Covid lockdown, the corner is being turned and they can look forward to the rest of the season with some optimism.