Upon arriving in Hamilton, the squad learned that the league was unable to appoint a referee for the contest and the match was unlikely to happen. After nearly an hour of frantic negotiations and numerous phone calls, a solution emerged and the match proceeded.

From the opening kickoff, the Highland team proved they were hungrier for the win. Unrelenting in their attack, they played a smart, efficient game and looked more like the championship caliber team their coach believes they can be.

Playing without a coach, who was pressed into action as the referee, the Highland squad was forced to work through situations on their own. They rose to the challenge, as their coach/referee obviously held them to higher standards than the Hamilton team in his rulings on the field.

Highland struck first in the first half, with an unselfish try in the corner. The convert was struck well, but unsuccessful. Unwilling to let up, the lads in green and white continued to press, but were unable to cross the line again, heading into half with a 5-0 lead.

The second half was more of the same, Highland played ferocious defence and shut down the Hamilton attack. Several penalties put Hamilton in a very good scoring position, but the team worked together to keep them out of goal. At one point Hamilton did cross the line, but was unable to maintain possession long enough to down the ball.

Hamilton was not the only team to cross the line and come up empty, Highland was once held up in goal, and late in the half forced into touch as they crossed the goal line with a diving effort. They would be successful one more time, scoring an impressive third phase try on the right side of the posts to push the lead to 10-0. Again the conversion was unsuccessful, but very well struck.

The Highland squad was forced to play the last 15 minutes short as they had used all their substitutions prior to losing a player to injury, but managed to hold off the home team and secure the win.

A great effort by all 18 Highland players, look for more success from this squad as the season wears on.

Next game is Saturday July 26 at home vs Wilmot. Kickoff is at 10:30am, good luck!