1sts v Wilmot |
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Saturday June 23, 2007 Hamilton Hornets 1sts XV again made hard work this weekend of a team that, on paper, they should have easily beaten. Hamilton faced winless Wilmot on Saturday and gave their spectators a fright or two in a low-scoring game that came down to the wire. It was nearly 20 minutes into the match before the Hornets managed to break the deadlock with a try from Jamie Whan (Captain). Whan found himself on the right side of an overlap resulting from a nicely worked backs move to score in the right corner. Hamilton had been enjoying most of the territory up until this point with little to show for their efforts. Wilmot came back into the game following a yellow card to Hornets' flanker, Tyler Struyk. They exploited the one man advantage and took the points when Hamilton conceded a penalty in front of the posts. Hamilton were restored to full strength just before the whistle and held a tenuous half time lead of 5 - 3. The second half saw much of the same with neither side looking all that likely of scoring until about 32 minutes of the second half. Player coach, Keith Hopkins, was substituted in and made an immediate impact steering a nicely worked Hornets maul. The pack marched Wilmot back to near their 5m line before Hopkins went openside and crashed over the line to give Hamilton a little breathing room. Wilmot were not done yet despite there only being about 8 minutes left on the clock and full credit to the Warthogs for hanging in tough for 80 minutes. The visitors try came from broken play and a momentary lapse in Hornets defence. Up until that point Wilmot had barely broken the gain line all day. Wilmot converted the try to tie the match at 10 - 10 and make for a nervous final few minutes. The Wilmot score seemed to provide the impetus the Hornets needed to get their heads back in the game. From the restart the Hornets pack did some good hard rucking for a few phases to set up a second try for Hopkins who found a hole and ran in from near the Wilmot 22m line. Jamie Whan added the conversion via a drop-goal after the wind blew the ball off of the tee and he was forced to hurry the kick. A win is a win as they say and the Hornets can take pride in that, half way through the season, they are tied for first in the NRU A division in their first year back in the league. There are no league games next weekend which will give players from all men's teams the chance to recover before a home triple header on July 7th. Final Score: Hamilton 17 - Wimot 10. Man of the match: Keith Hopkins Match Report by: The Hamilton Hornets always welcome new Junior and Senior members. Drop us an email at hornets@hamiltonrugby.com or call the club house at 905.575.3133
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