Alex Gordon at Mansfield Park

Hawick 17 Glasgow Hawks 17


“You're twistin' my melon man, you know you talk so hip man
You're twistin' my melon man

Call the Cops!

Hey rainmaker, come away from that man
You know he's gonna take away your promised land
Hey good lady he just wants what you got you know
He'll never stop until he's taken the lot.”

It rained. Then the players arrived and it rained some more.
The pitch was cut up. Again the players arrived and the pitch cut up some more.
Somewhere in between 3 pm and 4.40 pm 30 players tried to entertain a noisy and well informed crowd and they did.
At first Hawks took the game and Hawick, by the throat and gave them a good shake. The opening score came not from some sparkling back play but by playing the conditions. A chip over the heads of the Greens defence and the Hawks backs were up swiftly as Hawick struggled to deal with a slippery ball. Mike Martin pounced on a defensive error and hacked the ball ahead. Haddon McPherson was first to the ball but could only kick it on into the in-goal. A Hawick defender tried to touch it down but the ball eluded him and it fell to James Gormley to take charge and touch the ball down. Mike Adamson slotted over a tricky conversion and Hawks had a solid lead. (0-7)
Hawick were unfortunate not to narrow the gap as Hawks conceded a penalty when Neil Renwick hit the upright and Hawks could breathe a sigh of relief as they went unpunished for a slack infringement.
The game descended into’ a dour, attritional battle for territory as both sides tried to kick tactically deep at one another’s back three. Neither side could offer a threat as players struggled to run in the ever increasing mud.
In the forwards, it was a different matter as Steven Findlay and Brendan Cullinane scrummaged to good effect bolstered by Andrew Linton and Gus Hamilton locking the front row. Hawks suffered a set back when Dan Smart was first talked to and then received a yellow card for a squint feed. From the subsequent play, Hawick were awarded a readily goalable penalty and Renwick didn’t fail to narrow the gap.
Alarm bells should have started ringing when , with about 5 minutes of the opening period to go, Hawick put together a slick passing move with the ball passing through the hands in a manner that seemed to defy the conditions. Even so the pace seems slow and resembled silent film of soldiers advancing on the Western Front. The attack was broken up as Hawks defensive cover dulled it’s thrust and it faded into the greyness like a will o’ the wisp.
Hawick came out for the 2nd half in an unfamiliar blue strip with a bright yellow trim. This gold beacon seemed to be the only bright thing on the park but it seemed to indicate a desire to defy the conditions and hope broke out in Mansfield Park as the not so Greens started to overcome the conditions and along with it Hawks as well.
An Adamson penalty in 47 minutes offered the sole positive spot in what was for the Glasgow men a desperate second half. (10-3)
Hawick played all their rugby in the Hawks 22 and even when Hawks managed to clear their lines the Greens defied the pattern of the first half as the started to put together some breaks with the ball in hand. It was taking a courageous effort to hang onto the lead but the break came inevitably in 67 minutes. Hawick were awarded several penalties just short of the visitors line, each one in turn was taken as a scrum. Hawks were lucky not to lose a player to the sin-bin. It fell to home lock, Bruce McNeil to take the score close to the posts gifting Renwick a simple conversion. (10-10)
With scores tied, the question was now, could Hawks hold on?
The restart offered Hawks no relief as the Greens, scenting a real chance to take all the points, they were swiftly assaulting the visitors’ midfield. With the move of the game the ball was passed swiftly and slickly down the home back-line. They waltzed past the defence with ease, evading tackles, breaking through the contact before Renwick broke free to score under the posts, he then added the extras to his own try. (17-10)
And still they came, the final ten minutes saw Hawks hanging on for dear life to a losing Bonus Point. The clock had stopped and the next time the ball went dead the match was over. The ball was turned over close to the Hawks line, initially, it was run out of defence toward the 22 metre line then the but was put onto leather. McPherson ws up on it, the ball was perilously close to the far touch line when he hacked it forward and back into the area of play. As the ball skipped and bounced Gavin Lowe won the race to touch it down for the try. Hawks were still two points short of tieing the score, but Adamson had been replace and so Gormley stepped up to convert. The Hawks’ fullback was subjected to what the legendary son of Hawick, Bill McLaren, might have called some ill-mannered whistling, but Gormley held his nerve to put the conversion over. (17-17)
The whistle blew and the match was drawn. Somehow from some deep well of character Hawks had manufactured a draw and had secured two important away points.
There was a stunned feeling across Mansfield Park as the home support couldn’t understand the “crime” which they had witnessed and they looked on disbelievingly. A Glaswegian smash and grab.
Call the Cops? Call the cops indeed…
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This article was posted on 3-Nov-2013, 11:54 by Hugh Barrow.