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Saturday July 21, 2007 Saturday saw an unexpected men’s home triple header with Burlington forced to play their home match away to Hamilton’s 3rds after defaulting their away game to the Hornets earlier in the season due to a shortage of players. The 3rds had a tough day in store for them with Burlington bringing a far stronger 3rds team than seen in Hamilton in many seasons. There were no matches scheduled in the Ontario Keenan division this weekend and it was apparent that Burlington had stacked their team. Despite the obvious adversity, the Hamilton development side made work hard for the Keenan division mercenaries and kept the score to a respectable 36 – 0. --- The Hornets faced Highland in 1st / 2nd team action on Saturday. The second team match was a hard fought contest. The scoreboard remained blank until nearly half an hour into the match when Hornets flanker, Dan Sopher, opened the scoring with his first Hornets try – congratulations Dan. Alec Stewart put the conversion over. Highland replied within the next 5 minutes to make the score 7 – 5 before veteran Hornets flanker, Jason Mancini, scored in the corner just before half time. The try followed a sustained period of good, aggressive rucking by the Hornets forwards to take a 12 – 5 lead into the interval. The second half got off to a frustrating start with Hamilton giving away a series of penalties to set up a Highland attempt at goal to get to within 4 of the Hornets. The score seemed to wake the Hornets up as the Hornets drove into Highland end with a good few phases. The pack then started a driving maul from around 20 metres out and drove it to the Highland 5m line. Duane Davis then peeled from the back of the maul but was tackled just short of the line. Scrum-half, Chris Gilks, picked up the quickly-rucked ball and touched down for the score to extend Hamilton’s lead to 22 – 8. The game now looked in the bag for the Hornets with a 14 point lead with 20 minutes to go when the veteran scrummie picked up a needless yellow card. With Gilks in the bin Highland, to their credit, took full advantage and came back at the Hornets scoring two converted tries to tie the match. The final try came right on full time and the Highland kicker made the conversion to share the points with Hamilton with a score of 22 - 22. --- In first team play, the Hornets put in a disciplined performance against a strong Highland 1st team. The scoring was opened after 12 minutes of the opening half with one of the nicest backs scissor moves of the season. Fly-half, Jamie Whan popped the ball back inside to his inside centre, Matt Barrett. The run of Whan created a hole you could have drove a bus through and there was no stopping Barrett who charged in from the 22m line. The backs continued to fire with another nice move to end the half with winger, Shawn Hill, finding his full-back, Paul Roberto, in support outside him. Berto touched down for the score in the corner. Captain, Peter Van Zyl, made the difficult conversion for a 12 – 0 half time lead. The second half got off to a great start with the Hornets putting together a series of phases to get deep into Highland territory. After several good pick and drive moves by the Hornets pack, Matt Barrett crossed the line. Van Zyl added the conversion to extend the Hornets lead to 19 – 0. Hamilton looked on their way to putting in a big score against Highland but seemed to take their foot off the gas after the opening try of the half. Of course, full credit must be given to Highland who came back at Hamilton well. Highland were rewarded for their efforts with a try right before full time to make the score – Hamilton 19 – Highland 7. 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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