Ayr 24- 25 Glasgow Hawks

Another Saturday, another remarkable performance by the mighty 2's! Defensive effort in last 10mins epitomised spirit that has developed in this team. Skeleton squad again due to injuries made worse by losing CT and Franco in first half. Left us with 15 players and 5 positional changes from the starting line-up! Evident early on the contrast in styles- Ayr using blunt force to power their way through and Hawks always looking to move ball into space to compensate for lighter forwards. Ayr had better of early period and off a dominant scrum broke down blind , recycled quickly and no.8 scored in corner. Injuries to key forwards put scrum under constant pressure and crucially changes all came with a 5metre scrum to defend . Strike against head and Ayr powered over for 0-10 after 32mins.
Hawks always looking dangerous when winning first phase ball or from turnovers due to abrasive defence . From great line-out ball moved left, good carries by Scottie Rodgers, Whippy and Craig Brodie created momentum to use full width again and Ross Angus dived over in right hand corner. 5-10 HT score.
2nd Half started with real purpose and quick rucks created space for Craig B to breenge through defence , Ayr's defence couldn't reorganise quick enough and 2 deft passes had Rob W scoring . Paddy's conv 12-10, 42mins played. Ayr put pressure back on with good line-out drives but Hawks were holding at scrum time until another 5m scrum folded and ref decided it was worth a penalty try. Looked harsh from touch-line since previous 2 had held well. 12-17 after 53mins.
Game began to break up , suiting Hawks style and good phases and quick ball from Kris B's no.8 pick up had Ayr scrambling and induced offside pen, Paddy did job for 15-17.
Straight from k-o John Rae went on another mazy run , off-load to Brodie and clever kick ahead had Ayr full back under pressure and scrambled ball to touch. Normal thinking would have been to set a line-out and drive from 10m out, no chance since Hawks had scored before most players even knew what was going on!! Brodie following up kick sprinted for ball and took quick throw to a switched on ScottieR who had somehow tracked the length of the field and took deft throw and nipped over for opportunist score!! Outrageously smart thinking- one player put it down to Brodie's Glasgow Academy education!?!? Back in lead 20-17, 20mins to go.
Ayr kept getting into scoring areas only to be met with huge defence but big ball carriers did manage to out flank defence one last time and no.8 completed hat-trick. Conv made it 20-24. Set up for an absorbing finish.
Despite exhaustion setting in, Hawks kept ball brilliantly for multiple phases and good ball carries by forwards Scott R, Dmitris et al , supported by Paddy and a great off-load to the mercurial Tristan France , and he left Ayr trailing desperately to make it 25-24 , 76mins gone . But 6mins of injury time appeared on clock and all of those last minutes were played inches from Hawks line. Heroic, inspirational defence ensued!! Time after time Ayr battered at line, scrums held out, line-out drives foiled until one last scrum. Ayr's stand-off went for a dart at the line , smashed backwards by Brodie, ball dislodged forward , chaos , Ayr player sent off , ref tended to injured before remembering to blow final whistle!! What an 80mins!

This article was posted on 4-Mar-2013, 22:07 by Hugh Barrow.