Hawks 2’s versus Edinburgh Accies

The Mighty 2’s made the trip through to Edinburgh as part of their preparations for the final two games of the league campaign. A not unusually much changed team from the last outing against Biggar gave debuts to Stephen Biggart, Murray Stewart and Mike’the Yank’ Marlowe with John McLay starting on the bench claiming jet-lag. Richie McKnight and Niall Cadell were given some much-needed game time after their drink-fuelled trip to Aberdeen last week and we also welcomed back Ross / Scott ‘Yellow Card’ McDonald after his debut for the 1sts last week.
Our hosts, second top of the 2nd division, started very positively – at about the same time as the rain- and put the Hawks line under some pressure for the first ten minutes but were unable to breach it due to some excellent first up tackling. The most notable of these was from Gavin McDonald which left his opposite number looking for his whereabouts for the rest of the game!
Having weathered the storm the heavyweight duo of Stewart and McDonald in the 2nd row made some impressive ball carries into Accies’ territory and after 16 minutes Richie Mcknight, playing in the unfamiliar position of inside centre, capitalised to score under the posts, Kenny Baillie converting against his old club ( where he still appears to be strangely popular!)
The game wasn’t really flowing as the Mighty 2’s like, due to the weather, but it was still mainly Hawks pressure and this resulted in a penalty for KB after 26 minutes. The plan was to play the game in the same manner as a league match and therefore all scoring opportunities were being taken. Unfortunately at this point the team was disrupted due to a double injury. Simon Tourde was left lying on the ground after some skulduggery from the Accies’ 7 and Ross McDonald was left with a head wound after some careless boot work – from a Hawks player! This gave Jamie Mackinnon and the ever dependable Willie Wong an early chance to get dirty.The half ended with Richie Mcknight demonstrating some shocking soccer skills, hacking a ball on from the middle of the pitch which resulted in a lineout. Stick to rugby Richie, Walter Smith will not be looking for you as a saviour!
HT – HAWKS 10 ACCIES 0
The 2nd half began in the same manner with the young Hawks forwards working hard to gain territory and after a period of pressure this brought a rather soft penalty try when an Accies’ player kicked the ball out of a ruck, right on the line. KB converted from in front of the posts. Robbie Alexander, John McLay and Sean Murray replaced Davy Stewart, Mike Marlowe (struggling with an ankle injury) and Danny Hoffman and the pattern of Hawks winning some good turnover ball, protecting their own ball and aggressive defense (Yank spelling, Mike!) allowed the backs to spin the ball, often from deep positions particularly to Stuart Low’s wing. Had the underfoot conditions been better the 2’s would probably have stretched their lead at this point, but they had to be content with gains in territory only. Sean Murray was particularly unlucky when a brave chargedown of an Accies’ kick on halfway was pulled back by the ref as Murray Stewart was lying prostrate on the ground- knackered! This meant a return for Ross McDonald although to the heady position of 6, allowing Niall Cadell to return to his favourite position in the 2nd row! After 65 minutes Stuart did break the shackles and burst away in familiar fashion to score a fine try and give KB another easy conversion. Ali Mustoe sustained a strain to his neck at this point and was replaced by Davy Stewart. The scoring was concluded by Oatey scoring at the end of some good back play and with Danny Hoffman replacing Gavin MacDonald, the ref decided to penalise the eager Hawks defense at a succession of rucks. Hawks line however was not to be breached and the final score was HAWKS 31 ACCIES 0.

A solid performance from the 2’s with continued improvement in ball protection and gaining turnover ball. With the classy backs we have this allows us to play our expansive game and while we had to curtail this somewhat in this game it bodes well for the upcoming league matches. We have a Plan B!

Thanks as usual to our hosts for a good hard game (and the experience of cold showers!), to Big John (who now stands behind the posts to avoid running touch!), to Greg who had a particularly busy afternoon ( I hate to think how busy a better looking physio would have been!) and to Hugh Barrow for coming along and supporting (he was still pacing up and down like a caged polar bear!) – oh and to Chris Breckenridge for eating the Jelly Babies even altho’ he was only supporting!

NOTE FROM ED-- Cold showers just the thing we used to break the ice in the burn to wash

This article was posted on 19-Feb-2006, 10:05 by Hugh Barrow.