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Date: Saturday, 25th April 1998
Kickoff time: 15:00
Against: Kelso
Team: Hawks 1st XV
Location: Away
Competition: Cup-Shield-Bowl-Plate
Final score: 36 - 14 (won)
Glasgow Hawks 36 Kelso 14
TOMMY HAYES had a dream the other week. "I was out on the pitch at
Murrayfield wearing a Scotland jersey," he recalled. Those with
Scottish rugby close at heart will be hoping it was a vision of the
prophetic variety.
In the Tennent's Velvet Scottish Cup final at Murrayfield on Saturday
it was the skills of the overseas players that not only caught the eye
but captured the silverware too. And Hayes, at outside-half for the
Glasgow Hawks, was orchestrator of the show. The 16 points he
contributed with his right boot was two more than the 17 players of
Kelso could collectively muster in reply. But the 23-year- old was no
points-kicking automaton. His influence was highlighted by the
clinical incision through the Kelso back line which rather fittingly
served the first of the Hawks's four tries on a plate for Derek Stark,
the Scotland wing who was once dubbed "the fastest pastry chef in
international rugby." Hayes has already been in international rugby
himself. He won two caps for the Cook Islands before leaving his
native New Zealand last summer to join the new age force being
gathered on Clydeside by Ian Russell. The bitter-sweet irony for
Russell on Saturday was that the team he has built into such a
formidable power following the merger of Glasgow Academicals and
Glasgow Hick-Kelvinside is to be dismantled because of the Scottish
Rugby Union's masterplan for making the flower of Scotland bloom
again. The cream of the Caledonian crop have been contracted to two
new "super district" teams, precluding them from club competition next
season. Thus seven of the Hawks' cup-winning XV bade their farewells
on Saturday night, leaving coach Russell with another side to build.
"We've got five players who will come up through the ranks," he said.
"And we're looking to bring in another five, possibly exiled Scots
from down south." For Scotland, the international team-building will
probably need more than a redistribution of talent from club to
district competition. As this season has shown, the native playing
resources north of the border are simply threadbare. It is just as
well that Glenn Metcalfe has tartan blood running through his Kiwi
veins. The Hawks' full-back from Auckland has been claimed as a
Caledonian. He tours Australia and Fiji with Scotland this summer.
Metcalfe has a super districts contract for next season. So does
Hayes. The man of the match on Saturday is, in fact, the only player
ineligible for Scotland to have been offered one. Hayes, it seems, has
no long lost granny from Stornoway. He is, however, considering
qualifying for Scotland on residential grounds. So his dream may yet
come true. Glasgow Hawks: Tries Common 2, Stark, Mackay; Conversions
Hayes 2; Penalties Hayes 4. Kelso: Tries Fairley, Wearne; Conversions
Wearne 2. Glasgow Hawks: G Metcalfe; D Stark, C Simmers (M
McGrandles,80), D Wilson (capt), A Common; T Hayes (C McGregor, 78), S
Simmers (C Little, 50); G McIlwham, C Docherty (K Horton, 78), M
Beckham (M Blackie, 70), C Afuakwah, S Hutton, F Wallace, G Mackay (A
Ness, 70), M Wallace. Kelso: D Baird; S Ross, G Laing, I Fairley, C
Jackson; J Wearne, G Cowe; S Murray ( R Hogarth, 68), K Thomson, D
Howlett, I Fullarton, S Laing (S Rowley, 73), S Bennet, S Forsyth, A
Roxburgh (capt). Referee: C Muir (Langholm).
No team list has been added yet.
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