Currie 7 : Glasgow Hawks 23

A must win game for both teams. Currie desperately needing the points to
save them from the bottom of the table. In a restructuring of the
Premiership, 3 teams will be going down at the end of the season and 1
will be coming up. Hawks, on the other hand, badly needed to
re-establish their credentials and keep their noses ahead in the race
for the Premiership.

Job done for Hawks.

In truth it was a far from a pretty sight however. A grey day with a
touch of smyr in the air (smyrry for non Scots is that sort of wet misty
feeling to the air - it characterises the arrival of summer normally)
meant cold and damp. It must have been from the amount of mishandling to
start with. From start to finish a cloud of steam hovered over both packs.

MYF and I sat in front of a crowd of Hawks supporters. There seemed more
of them and fewer from Currie than last week. The game kicked off and
the struggle ensued. Currie showed by far the greater fizzle and Hawks
were pressed on to the defensive back foot for much of the half. For
much of the game Hawk's Murray Strang attempted to find touch with some
long kicks but succeeded only in finding Currie's leather magnet Douglas
Flockhart. On this performance Flockhart must truly have sat for long
hours at the feet of Dean Richards. Perhaps, also, coach Wilson should
remind Strang that there are two touchlines to aim for.

It was a matter of minutes before Currie opened their account with a
goal coming from a determined forward effort in the far corner. Reekie's
try was very ably converted by Ker, despite MYF's best efforts with her
patented curse - we all have off days. Hawks supporters felt that hard
lump in the chest that signifies a heart movement towards the throat.

The rest of the half was grim. Currie struggled hard to build some
momentum, Hawks struggled even harder to kill it. Behind us the Hawks
supporters greeted each kick with a groan, particularly as it was
fielded. 'Run it', 'stop giving them possession' being the anguished
cry. The fact remains that you can't play rugby in your own half. The
tactic was sound but on the day the execution wavered.

The arrival of the second half brought with it a change in tempo from
the Hawks.Strang had faltered with the boot but had shown more success
with a mixture of breaks and passes. Twice he'd been almost free but for
a last moment hindrance. Monaghan was having a great second outing as
the Hawks 9. He too was mixing up some clever chips, the occasional
clearance, quick breaks and some excellent harrying work on opposition
set piece. Nevertheless the Hawks line wasn't gelling as it should.
Maybe the return of the excellent Ricky Munday introduced a little too
much unfamiliarity to the backline? Whatever the reason too often a
promising break resulted in a wild miss pass or a pass to no-existent
support.

Hawks forwards appeared to take matters in to their own hands. Not
content with providing a solid platform, particularly at the lineouts
for a change, they took on the responsibility for scoring too. Richie
Maxton, yet again provided some hard points after some very determined
bustle with a try in the corner. Adamson was unable to convert but it
was a start.

As though embarrassed the backs provided the next points as Strang
redeemed his kicking game with a lucky interception - Mr Rammage took a
very fluid approach to offside all through the game - and a long lope
for the line and a try.

It seemed like only moments later that a rocketing Mark Sitch break from
about the half way carved a huge hole in the Curry defence. When brought
down on the 22 he gave a perfect pop to Iain Monaghan on his shoulder
for the flying scrummie to sprint and dive in the corner. My personal
Man of the Match scored the try of the season.

The bonus point came when Ally MacLay dotted down the fourth try and
accelerated the slow exodus of Currie supporters to the club house.

It was an ill-tempered game with a couple of fights breaking out and a
yellow card to each team. Hawks should have recovered some confidence
from this game as they had to dig deep for the result. It should also
have shown them that there is no room for some of the complacency that
was creeping in to their game in the first half of the season. Each game
is there to be won by hard graft, not my right.

A goal to a four tries and a penalty told the story of the game.

Watsonians added a further bonus by losing to Biggar. Hawks are now 11
points clear in the table and entering the home run. The Guinness in
Curries club house tasted much better this week.

Back to Sue Barker for some women in comfortable shoes playing tennis.

regards

The Green Phantom

This article was posted on 29-Jan-2006, 11:31 by Hugh Barrow.