Match against Peebles (10-May-2009)
Date: Sunday, 10th May 2009
Kickoff time: 15:00
Against: Peebles
Team: Hawks 1st XV
Location: Away
Competition: Cup-Shield-Bowl-Plate
Final score: 21 - 14 (won)
| Glasgow Hawks 21 - 14 Peebles: Pacey Hawks outstrip Peebles to end their season on a high note Published Date: 11 May 2009 By DAVID FERGUSON at Murrayfield PEEBLES closed the gap between the first and second divisions with a terrific spirited display in their first appearance at Murrayfield, but the pace of Glasgow Hawks' young guns ultimately settled the outcome of the Scottish Hydro Electric Shield Final in favour of the top-flight club. First half tries from Peter Jericevich and Craig Gossman and a stunning second-half counter, created by Gossman and finished in a 60-metre run by Jono Wright, proved just too much for the Borders, and provided reward for a trying season for a new, young Hawks side. Peter Wright, the Hawks coach, said: "I'm really happy because it has been a tough year and to get a win at Murrayfield in the last game of the season makes the summer a lot better. "If you'd taken a snapshot of us in August/September we didn't look the best but these guys have put a lot of hard work into their season and definitely improved, and it's great that they had the chance to show that today. The good thing for me and the Hawks club is that this is a very young team and there is a lot more to come from them." Jericevich, the Hawks' tricky scrum-half, created the first try from nothing, chipping into the right-hand corner from 20 metres, and out-stripping two Peebles players to the ball to touch down over the line. Within four minutes, however, the lead was cut back as Peebles pressed the Hawks' 22 and Dan Boughtwood, the Borders' leading points-scorer slotted an opportune drop-goal from nearly 40 metres. The Hawks' young back division had Peebles' defence stretched across their own 22 with some terrific running, the back three, in particular, of Gossman at full-back and wings Sean Murray and Wright running great lines at pace. However, once Peebles began to hold on to the ball, they showed signs of making this a tighter game than the first ten minutes might have seemed with Kiwi back rows Raymond 'Tig' Jocelyn and James Oakes at the forefront. The end-to-end nature of the contest was summed up by cracking tries at either end inside five minutes. Fine running by Robbie Hair and Graham Harkness gave Hawks the field position, and when the ball was worked right Gossman, the son of Scotland cap Jimmy, dived in between two defenders to touch down. In the 22nd minute, Oakes finished off a sublime handling move down the left touchline with centre Craig Borthwick after turnover ball but Boughtwood's conversion came back off the left post to leave the scores balanced at 11-10 to Peebles. A high tackle on Ian Noble, the fly-half, handed Hawks an easy penalty, which Mike Rainey converted, to edge the Glasgow side back in front with 30 minutes gone, but four minutes into the second half Boughtwood created and finished a neat bit of opportunism when he chipped the ball deep into an unoccupied part of Hawks' 22 and follow it up to force a penalty and duly convert it to put Peebles back in front, 14-13. Peebles then grasped the game firmly and enjoyed more than ten minutes pressing Hawks back against their own line, but, crucially the Glasgow side defended furiously and survived a series of attacks with some scrambling defence stopping tries at the last second, the pick one from Gossman, the eventual man-of-the-match, that denied David Anderson a try in the corner. Gossman was then crucial in what proved to be the match-winning score, taking a difficult pass above his head and then releasing Wright, whose pace took him away from the Peebles cover and across the turf to the try-line. The conversion was missed and Noble missed two penalties, but Gossman finished the game with a final penalty. Scorers: Hawks: Tries: Jericevich, Gossman, Wright. Cons: Gossman. Pens: Gossman Peebles: Tries: Oakes. Pens: Boughtwood 2. Drop: Boughtwood Glasgow Hawks: C Gossman; J Wright, R Hair, G MacDonald, S Murray; I Noble (capt), P Jericevich; G Strain, J McLay, G Mories, N Campbell, A Kelly, M Whittleston, G Strang, G Harkness. Subs: J Stafford, N Nyemba, T McGarrity, G Francis, P Boyer, S Low, M Rainey. Peebles: Donald Anderson; David Anderson, A Smellie, C Borthwick, N Hogarth; D Boughtwood, D Moore; W Aitken, R McConnell, N Clark, D Harvey, S Smellie, R Jocelyn, J Oakes, D Sangster. Subs: T Keen, A Clarke, A Brown, S Irvine, E Jackson, N Warnock, C Hunter. Referee: D Jack.
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