Hawks Development XV v Scotland Under 19 XV

Hawks Development XV lost by 5-28 to a well organised and competitive Scotland Under 19 XV. The scratch side took a full half to organise their defence and by that time gifted their young opponents two converted tries one from sloppy passing and the other from missed tackles. The third came from a good blind side break from a maul close to the line. Hawks own try was also a but lucky as it came from a charged down kick following a long kick to the corner by Chris Breckenridge. Danny Hoffman was the scorer. Hawks were hampered in the first half by the loss of both props to injury. Replacement hooker Matteo Giovanzzi stepped into the propping role and coped pretty well.
The second half was much more even as the Hawks defence was solid and the Scotland side couldn't break through until the last move of the game.
From a Hawks point of view it was a good opportunity to give some of the fringe players game time especially against opponents closer to their age range. They did well to keep their cool when challenged by some extraordinary refereeing that constantly favoured their opponents.
The Hawks players and officials convey their best wishes to the Scotland Under 19 side for their upcoming matches and the FIRA tournament later in the season.

This article was posted on 16-Nov-2005, 15:44 by Hugh Barrow.