Linlithgow Reds 12 – 26 Hamilton Bulls
Saturday 29 August 2026
Report by David Mitchell with photos courtesy of Graham Black
Arnold Clark National League Division 4 rugby returned to Mains Park on Saturday with a game against Hamilton Bulls. The home team won both fixtures against the Bulls last season but expected a tough opener as the visitors were fielding a few new recruits and the hosts had very little rugby in the pre-season period.
Conditions were almost perfect with the pitch looking good and the weather was fine with bright skies and a gentle breeze blowing from the east. The Reds team was along familiar lines with only the welcome return of 2023/24 Player of the year, Mark Caddle (after a 2-year injury) adding to a settled squad.
The early exchanges were dominated by Hamilton with excellent control shown by their number 10, Andrew Wilson, whose early kicking pinned the home team deep in defence. With the visitors also showing real aggression and direct running, it was no surprise when they scored their 1st try after only a few minutes of play. Hamilton bossed the early exchanges even when they were defending, as they regularly prevented the Reds getting over the gain line via some excellent tackling and quickly closing any spaces.
The Reds only had one period of pressure in the Hamilton 22 metre area, but it did produce a try for the home side when Mark Caddle burst from the back of the scrum and dived over for a fine try.
The home scrum was functioning well and got more dominant as the game went on but the line-out was a bit of a lottery with very few clean balls taken. The malfunction of the line-out was also due to some effective spoiling by the visiting pack of forwards.
The remainder of the 1st half saw the visitors camped in the Reds half of the field and they capitalised on very straight forward attacking play and some weak defence from the home side. The half ended with 3 more tries for Hamilton including 2 in a 5-minute spell just before the interval arrived. The number 10 added 3 conversions to the 4 tries to make the half-time score 5-26.
The second half saw a more even game with few scoring chances for both sides. Hamilton did not press on for more scores as they seemed to settle for their Try Bonus point lead, but also because the Reds defence stepped up more effectively. Consequently, the Reds began to show more initiative in attack which was also supported by the increasingly strong scrummage effort. However, the visitors tackling and performance at the breakdown continued to be strong as they blunted many of the home attacks.
The home side introduced all 4 replacements during the half with Alfie Muir playing at scrum half, Oscar Davies boosting the pack and both Colin Devlin and Kieran Cochrane taking over the propping duties in fine style.
The only score in the 2nd half came after sustained scrummage pressure and a slew of penalties conceded by Hamilton. Jack Frame deployed his kick pass and found Ross Tulloch wide on the left wing and he combined with Ruaridh Stewart to send Ewan Curran diving over the line to score a fine try. Jack Frame added the touchline conversion to complete the scoring.
Final score: Reds 12 – 26 Hamilton Bulls
Reds Team
Front row: Calum McKeown, Kyle Ormond, Andrew Graham
Second row: Fraser Mochrie (capt), Lewis McGill
Back row: Euan Mochrie, Jamie Tulloch, Mark Caddle
Half-backs: Archie Rusack, Jack Frame
Centres: Murray Johnstone, Ruaridh Stewart
Back three: Ewan Curran, Luke O’Hara, Ross Tulloch
Subs (all played):
Colin Devlin, Kieran Cochrane, Oscar Davies, Alfie Muir
Comment
Hamilton Bulls fully deserved their win, but in particular the Reds failed to fire in the 1st half. The 2nd half was a more even contest but the damage was done in the first 40 minutes. The home error count included missed tackles, inaccurate passing, questionable offloading and a lack of penetration by the back line. The line-out failed to produce much good quality ball and the only real pass marks were earned by the scrum where the Reds were in command for most of the game.
Clearly, the lack of a decent pre-season campaign was a huge contributing factor to the poor performance by the Reds. This must be addressed for season 2027/28 when a full 3-week period must be used as the build up to the next season. On the assumption that everyone in the Club wants to see a flying start to the league campaign every year, early groundwork needs to be put in place before the end of this season or early in the close season. Even captain Fraser Mochrie admitted that we were probably undercooked by 2 weeks when he addressed the masses after the game.
However, the immediate focus needs to be on winning next Saturday at home to Dunfermline. Let’s hope for a big crowd at Mains Park next week to see a much needed win.
Linlithgow Rugby Club 