For the second year in a row Hawks travelled to Deramore Park in Belfast to take on Belfast Harlequins in a pre season friendly. Once again Hawks overcame the Irish Premier League 1B side with a comfortable winning margin.
Hawks have regrouped after relegation at the end of last season. Despite the loss of 7 or 8 players they have recruited well with 19 new recruits already registered. On Saturday out of a travelling squad of 24, 10 were new to the Club.
The Belfast side were short of a few players due to Irish and Ulster committments and were unable to put Hawks under any real pressure.
Although the play was looser than they will experience once the league programme gets underway the handling, running and defece was impressive so early in the season. The forwards won a considerable amount of ball from the set pieces and in the loose and the backs used their speed advantage to the full.
The game was played in 4 quarters of 20 minutes each and Hawks outscored their opponents in all four sessions. All 24 players were given game time and able to demonstrate their skills.
Clearly there is going to be competition for places with nearly all positions covered.
The value of the pre season training was in clear  evidence especially in the final session when the Harlequins began to make mistakes and Hawks pounced..
Hawks are most grateful to Harlequins for hosting this game and for the use of their beautiful pitch and facilities.
Hawks try scorers were:
Andy Fleming
Kirk Williams x 2
Tony Heron
Grant Strang
Haddon McPherson
Jono Wright
Conversion Andy White
Hawks have two more pre season frienlies before they meet Watsonians at Old Anniesland on Saturday 25th August kick off 3 pm
The first of these is on Tuesday evening at Burnbrae when West Of Scotland are the opponents kick off 7pm and this Saturday when Aberdeen Grammar are the visitors to Old Anniesland. Kick off time to be confirmed.
For the game against West those players not able to travel to Belfast will be in the starting line up. This will give everyone a chance to go through their paces before the season finally gets underway

This article was originally posted on 13-Aug-2012, 08:37 by Hugh Barrow.
Last updated by Hugh Barrow on 13-Aug-2012, 17:36.