THE SCOTSMAN REPORTS


WILLIAM PAUL
AT MALLENY PARK


Currie 7
Glasgow Hawks 23

GLASGOW Hawks came to life in the second half of this Premiership encounter to reverse last week's cup defeat by Currie and move relentlessly closer to winning the title for the third year in a row.


They ran in four tries and were really looking the part of champions by the end, helped by the news that closest challengers Watsonians had lost at Biggar to leave them a near-unassailable 11 points clear at the top of the table with a game in hand.

Currie, mired in the relegation dogfight, would gladly have traded last week's cup win over Hawks for this week's league defeat on the same patch of mud masquerading as a rugby pitch, but don't have that option.

The irony is that Currie lost by the same margin - four tries to one - by which they turned over Hawks in the back-to-back games.

However, at least Currie know their ultimate fate, with three teams to go down this season, remains in their own hands as they cling to fourth bottom place.

Coach Ally Donaldson said: "It was very disappointing, particularly the last 20 minutes.

"In the first half it looked like two teams who had worked each other out, but in the second half they moved up a gear and we couldn't cope.

"The effort and determination of the players was first class, but we made too many mistakes.

"Hawks are a very good team and it looks like the championship is in the bag. They deserve it. They are the best team in the league."

Hawks might be the best, but that wasn't saying much for the first 40 minutes on Saturday when they looked pretty mediocre and their play was insipid and uninspired.

Currie went ahead with an early try from a rolling maul that carried prop Andrew Reekie over the line, but the home side paid the price for not being able to build on that lead during a period when Hawks were vulnerable.

The visitors, at this stage of the game, couldn't get over the gain line for love nor money and even squandered a simple chance to get points on the board when they were awarded a penalty virtually in front of the posts.

Stand-off Murray Strang went for the attacking lineout instead but kicked the ball dead.

It was a different story after the interval, during which Hawks coach David Wilson gave his team the metaphorical kick up the backside.

Within two minutes a fluid passing movement, conspicuous by its absence during the first half, had created the space for lock Richard Maxton to gallop over.

Full-back Mike Adamson missed the conversion before adding a 30-metre penalty to put a transformed Hawks into the lead and, although Currie kept them out until the last quarter, the defensive dam was springing dangerous leaks all over the place before it was finally breached.

The breakthrough came when Currie stand off Mike Ker tried to float an over-ambitious pass out wide. His opposite number Strang intercepted and nobody could get near him in the sprint to the line.

Minutes later young winger Chris Browne went back into his own 22 to expertly retrieve a kick ahead but then spoil it by trying to run out of defence. He was tackled, turned over and the ball was snapped out wide for Ally MacLay to score. Then No8 Mark Sitch picked up at the rear of a scrum on the halfway line and made 30 metres before off-loading to scrum-half Iain Monaghan to finish the business and wrap up the bonus point.

Currie were down and out. Another try would have come in the next few minutes if the referee hadn't called a dubious forward pass somewhere in a quick-fire series among the Hawks' rampant pack that had defenders clutching at shadows, but the four were more than sufficient for the job in hand.

Hawks coach Wilson isn't yet ready to claim the league is won. He insists his aim now is to keep his players focused so that they can avoid lapses like they suffered during 75 per cent of the past two games against Currie.

All Hawks' remaining games are against teams fighting relegation, beginning with Biggar, and he realises that facing opponents with a win at all costs attitude, the danger is his own players will think the games are as good as won and not maintain intensity.

Wilson said: "It is a state of mind. These guys for the past three or four years have dominated everybody else and it becomes hard to do that week in and week out. On the day if we perform and sustain it, I don't think there is a better side in the league.

"But it is hard for these guys with the pressure on them and maybe that is what makes them champions, because they are able to do it."

Scorers: Currie: Tries: A Reekie; Cons: M Ker. Hawks: Tries: R Maxton, M Strang, A MacLay, I Monaghan; Pens: M Adamson.

Currie: D Flockhart, G Caldwell, A Muir, G Moffat, C Browne, M Ker, G Calder, A Reekie, G Scott, A Edwards, P Huntley, A Adam, B Miller, M Cairns, R Weston. Subs used: D Wilson, B Morrison, F Pringle, D Officer.

Glasgow Hawks: M Adamson, R Munday, A MacLay, S Smith, S Low, M Strang, I Monaghan, E Milligan, S Fell, G MacFadyen, S Begley, R Maxton, S Warnock, N McKenzie, M Sitch. Subs used: P Dalton, G Mories, N Cadell, R McKnight.

Referee: I Ramage.



This article:

http://www.scotsman.com/?id=148562006

This article was posted on 30-Jan-2006, 08:48 by Hugh Barrow.