Alasdair
An Amazing Game
Heriots 36 Glasgow Hawks 24
 
If you were a neutral at yesterday's game you would have left Goldenacre thinking that your entry money had been well spent. This was a free flowing game of rugby the like of which you would never witness at Professional or International level.
Heriots were worthy winners but must be wondering how on earth Hawks got a four try bonus.
The game started with a glorious try by Hawks. From a lineout on the Heriots 22 the ball flowed across the back line until Tom Preece handed off his opposite number before passing to intruding fullback Craig Gossman who simply flew over the line. The little fullback, making his first appearance since receiving a serious injury in October has lost none of his considerable pace or enthusiasm for the game.
PJ knocked over the conversion for a 7-0 lead with only 2 minutes on the clock.
That was the last time the Hawks saw the ball till half time. Heriots simply flowed over them like a tsunami, winning all phases of the game. They levelled the score in the 8th minute, kicked a penalty in the 14th minute and another in the 17th, a try and conversion in the 27th and another penalty in the 37th to lead 23-7. It could have been more but they could not score from numerous one against one chances.
Hawks looked doomed to a huge defeat but right at the start of the second half Dean Kelbrick broke up the right touchline and found replacement Kris Hamilton on his elbow and the wee fellow from Thurso showed a clean pair of heels to score in the corner 23-12.
Heriots stung by this roared back into life and scored from an easy 4-2 overlap 28-12.
Then a strange thing happened the Hawks scrum that had been shunted back all afternoon made changes and a complete reversal took place. Two beautifully controlled 5 metre set scrums and Heriots were driven back. At the second one their loose head dived to the ground and the referee awarded a penalty try 28-19.
Alarm bells started to ring and Heriots stepped up the pace and scored yet another penalty their 4th of the day. Finally with 5 minutes remaining they scored the all important 4th try and a bonus.
In the remaining minutes Hawks battered away at the line and with the last play of the game Tom Preece scored in the left-hand corner to bring a breathtaking game to a halt.
Heriots with one game remaining are probably safely back into Premier 1. Hawks need to win their next two games to gain the same status. However rugby is a strange game and the results next week could change all that.

This article was posted on 18-Mar-2012, 12:14 by Hugh Barrow.