Biggar take first derby victory
Bulls push hosts close and take bonus point
Biggar ................. 24 Hamilton ............ 17
Andy Mcgilvray
Biggar took the win when they clashed head-on with derby rivals Hamilton in their opening BT National League 2 fixture on Saturday.
The hosts ran out 24-17 winners, with Hamilton taking just a losing bonus point for their efforts.
Biggar opened strongly and were met with a resolute Hamilton defence, but kicked a penalty through Carne Green to put them in front.
Hamilton should have levelled through a penalty from Andy Wilson, but he did convert his own try following a good move involving Craig and Ross Inglis, resulting in Wilson crossing the whitewash to put the Bulls 7-3 ahead after 30 minutes.
A fairly frantic period of play followed, with neither side able to grab hold of the game, but Douglas Notman disrupted ball at the ruck base sufficiently to allow Ross Bradford to cross, with Green converting for a 10-7 lead.
Hamilton continued to attack and a good move which saw ball shifted wide and then back inside allowed Ross Inglis a tilt at the line, and although he was unable to convert his try, the Bulls led 12-10.
The key moment in this game was when Biggar hit back with two quick-fire scores. Andrew Orr and Ross Bradford and Green’s intelligent kicking kept Hamilton pinned back, and when Gregor Stewart dummied a pass before instead finding Robbie Lavery, his off-load was taken by Orr and he popped it out to Davie Reive, who ran in for the try, which Green converted for 17-12.
Directly from the restart a kick ahead by Green saw Hamilton try again to run the ball out of defence, but an inside pass was well read by Ewan Stewart who started off for the line. The cover defence was good, but the youngster made a backhand pass to Reive, who picked out Orr to crash over for the try, which when converted by Green took the score to 24-12.
The second half was much less frantic, with neither side able to properly break down their opponent’s defence.
Hamilton did manage another score through Craig Inglis, who was able to profit from a neat break and pass by stand-off Scott Whitelaw, which Wilson again converted.
The Bulls will look to get their campaign back on track when they host West of Scotland at Laigh Bent.