Glasgow Hawks 24 Hawick 18
For a certain generation, the lyrics of Abba can some up many feelings and experiences, love and sadness, hope and desire. So it is with rugby, where Hawks “Took a Chance” and defeated a side who held the edge in their tussles last season.

“Take a chance on me
Gonna do my very best and it ain't no lie
If you put me to the test, if you let me try.”

Hawks started the match in scintillating style when the opened the scoring in less than a minute with a fantastic try. Attacking the Pavilion end Jack Steele broke into Hawick’s 22 but was running out of space and kicked ahead. This released Tom Steven to gather then run in, eluding a shell-shocked Green’s defence and touching down in 57 seconds. Mike Adamson put the conversion over and Hawks had the best of very good starts. (7-0)
Hawks were dominant, pressing the Greens, who simply couldn’t gather their thoughts without a Hawk coming in and stealing them. The game was played in Hawick’s 22 and Hawks seemed through for the second as Paddy Boyer was desperately tackled into touch a couple of metres short. Boyer, however, had the presence of mind to hit the ball off of his tackler and win the line out. The take was clean and Hawks rumbled toward the line with a ruck forming on the visitor’s line. Boyer lifted the ball from the base and darted across, carrying three Green tacklers with him for the second try. With Adamson missing the conversion Hawks were well ahead in 7 minutes. (12-0)
There seemed no cause for concern when Edinburgh pro, Gregor Hunter, stroked over a penalty in 16 minutes, but when he put another over in 19 minutes there was a distinct cause for concern. (12-6)
Hunter was starting to influence play, he had his back line moving and Hawks found themselves put to the test. The initial results of this examination weren’t good as Hunter, in 23 minutes, put in a cross kick which was gathered by Scott McLeod. The Hawick man, normally plays on the wing but was at outside centre, and the ball placed by Hunter was food and drink for the flying Terie and he was over for the green’s first try. Hunter missed the conversion and Hawks’ lead was down to a single point. (12-11)
Hawks responded well and were promptly back into the visitors 22, they were looking to bounce back quickly but they were to be very cruelly punished. As the Hawks pressed forward Hawick winf Greg Anderson anticipated a pass beautifully intercepting a pass. Five swift paces and he was clear of Hawks’ defence the running 80 metres for the score under the posts. With Hunter goaling, Hawks were shocked to find themselves well behind before half an hour had gone. (12-18)
Just after the half hour mark Hawick’s hopes took a blow when Hunter had to be replaced as he picked up a knock.
The second half started with Hawick looking livelier, to the observer Hawks play seemed disjointed. Ten minutes in Steele and Ally Maclay appeared to be combining well, yet time and again Hawick’s defence wrapped things up with ease. Both sides seemed to lose much of their structure as the desire not to lose the encounter dominated.
The home side doggedly stuck to their task but for 20 minutes it wasn’t obvious where a score would come from. A Hawks attacking move, after the hour, had ended with a knock on and Hawick had a defensive scrum just outside their 5 metre line. The strike was clean and the ball came to Bruce Campbell, who passed quickly and crisply, to his midfield. So far so mundane and the crowd were anticipating a long kick out of the 22 when one of the Hawick backs dropped the ball two metres from the line. Odds were on Hawick dropping on the ball but that didn’t allow for the sharpness of mind and the fleetness of foot of Adamson. The veteran stand-off plucked the ball from the floor as his slow thinking and slower moving opponents gawped in apparent disbelief as he dived over for the try, which he goaled himself. (19-18)
It was now a 1 point game and memories drifted to last week’s narrow loss to Edinburgh Accies. This was reaffirmed as Hawks gave up a penalty within a minute of the restart. Neil Renwick stepped up for a difficult in a similar position that Steele had kicked from last Saturday. The result was the same a miss and Hawks came through another test with colours flying.
The game was drawing to a close and Hawks continued to pressurise their visitors. There were five minutes to go and Hawick had repulsed another home assault with a clearance kick from a penalty which had almost taken the Greens into Hawks half. The home side won a scrum from a knock on at the lineout just inside the half way line. Hawks scrummage put the Hawick pack on the back foot and Ross Miller gathered the ball before putting the pass to Boyer. The scrum-half took a couple of steps before chipping over the heads of the Greens’ defence. Then followed a sublime moment, the ball was perfectly flighted, it rose and hung in the air almost waiting for Boyer to elude his opponents. Leaving the Greens to spectate, Boyer gathered his own kick not allowing the lottery of a bounce. But the work wasn’t over he was still 30 metres out and ran down the touchline hotly pursued by the visitors to go over for the try of the match and securing a bonus for Hawks. Adamson missed the conversion, which was taken after Hawick scrum-half, Bruce Campbell, was sent off controversially for an alleged stamp. (24-18)
Hawks came away having done their best and coming through the test and they got their tries and five points.

This article was posted on 1-Sep-2013, 09:31 by Hugh Barrow.