Hawks 2nd XV travelled to Braidholm to play GHA knowing that they needed to win their remaining games to have any chance of winning the league. Greg Francis and Nick Cox came into the squad after long lay offs with Greg starting and Nick on the reinforced bench!

Good overhead conditions and a dry pitch being the ideal conditions for the team’s running style were quickly in evidence when Mike Whiteford burst through in the centre and, finding himself in open space, he lengthened his stride and eased in under the posts to give Kenny Baillie an easy conversion – 2minutes gone, 7-0 for Hawks. The forwards were providing a steady stream of set piece ball and it was no surprise when Franco was on hand at the end of a period of pressure to score with Kenny missing the resultant conversion. At this point some of the moves became too elaborate and passes were thrown which were unnecessary and it wasn’t until the 13th minute that the 3rd score came but not before the play of the game from young Ross McDonald. Regathering a GHA kick into Hawks 22, he dummied the chaser, set off on the charge and chipped the onrushing GHA players to take the ball on the bounce and continue with his run! It was shortly after this that after a scrum on GHA’s 22, Murray Wiseman fed Rob Holdsworth breaking right and a well timed pass to the intruding Stuart Low allowed him to break the covering tackle to plunge over. Conversion missed by Kenny Baillie who was having a good day kicking from hand.

17-0 up in 13 minutes the foot was taken off the pedal, allowing GHA back into the game and although there was no more score the ascendancy was with the opposition. Refocussing was required and replacements were introduced at half time to freshen things up, Nick Cox replacing Ali Mustoe, Sean Murray replacing Rob Holdsworth and Gavin McDonald taking Mike Whiteford’s place in the centre. Hawks got off to a good start again with Nick Cox scoring from a well rehearsed move off a short lineout and using his devastating pace to power over – or his recently acquired extra bulk! A fine conversion from wide out on the left by Kenny Baillie made the score 24-0. The less said about Nick’s conversation with the ref shortly after when he was penalised at a ruck, the better! Result:Ref 30 metres- Nick 0!

Six minutes later the score was extended again when good interplay up the right resulted in Andy MacPhail producing a fine offload under pressure right on the touchline and Gavin McDonald supporting his centre partner well plunged over for the try.This was duly converted from wide out by Kenny Baillie. Kicking from both sides now!

Ten minutes later Sean Murray scampered away from a maul just outside the GHA 22 and found himself with a clear run to the line and under the posts to celebrate his birthday in good style – 4th conversion from Kenny and 38-0 after 57 minutes. At this point Hawks should have kicked on to a really healthy scoreline but again the foot came off the pedal and the next 20 minutes certainly belonged to the hosts who scored two fine and deserved tries. It shows how bad Hawks were at this stage when even the usually dependable KB sclaffed a penalty kick for touch so badly that it almost decapitated a GHA player!

A final flourish from Hawks came when from a scrum on the right and a miss pass from KB which was gathered up by Mark Oatey, resulted in Stuart Low scurrying in for his second try and a final score of 43-10 to Hawks.

All in all a real case of the “curate’s egg” – an expression which was lost on a lot of the younger players after – private educations and all! However as has been evident throughout this season, lessons will be readily learned and we look forward to the visit of Biggar next week. Usual thanks to Big John Gillies, Gemma for providing physio cover and all the squad for some fine rugby – just get more consistent!

This article was posted on 3-Feb-2006, 19:15 by Hugh Barrow.