Hawick 19 - 80 Glasgow Hawks

KEVIN FERRIE At Mansfield Park April 04 2005

No venue has witnessed more thrashings handed out in Scotland's top division or more silverware lifted, so there could have been no more appropriate place for Glasgow Hawks to complete the defence of their Scottish title in almost ritual fashion on Saturday.
Never before has the "away" column at Mansfield Park seen anything approaching these numbers as the month which traditionally heralds the cricket season saw the scoreboard operator brought up to pace. Conceding 12 tries was nothing short of excruciating for once-mighty Hawick, bringing into focus the need to establish a structure which sees what remains a magnificent youth set-up in the town properly fed through to senior level.
Putting that in context, Hawick Wanderers beat last year's champions, Hawick PSA, in this year's Scottish Youths Under-18 final, while at half-time yesterday the newly-crowned Scottish Under-15 champions, Hawick Albion, paraded their trophy and medals. That sort of quality should ensure that those wearing the famous green jerseys are rarely subjected to such indignity again in the foreseeable future.
As recently as three years ago Hawick themselves completed their latest sequence of back-to-back title wins, taking their overall tally to 12. These are changing times, though, and back when GHK, one of the clubs from which Hawks were formed, stood accused by their coach that "when the going gets tough our guys go skiing," no-one would have imagined that a Hawick man might call off because he was at the hairdresser's. Among the old guard in this grittiest of rugby communities, there was disbelief that Graham Scott, a front-row forward no less, was absent because it was apparently the only time he could get his dreadlocks attended to.
It was also all about homegrown talent when Hawick won their first 10 titles back in the seventies and eighties, whereas Hawks are much more the modern variety of club, using a talent-spotting system to find the best players available from all over the district and beyond.
Saturday's side contained three headed for the professional ranks. Fergus Thomson, their speedy, highly-skilled hooker, who was the best player on the pitch, is a product of Howe of Fife, arriving at Hawks via West of Scotland, while Colin Shaw, scorer of five tries, is from Ayr, and Stevie Swindall, their powerhouse flanker, started at Whitecraigs.
Back from the pro ranks Kenny Sinclair, originally from Kilmarnock, is also hugely influential. Yet nothing should detract from the craft with which this squad was assembled, before being encouraged to play a quite sublime brand of rugby in conditions which could almost persuade even those of us least keen on the notion of the benefits of summer rugby.
Hawick started the entertainment with some slick early handling, yet the contest was over and the title secure by the end of a first quarter which brought the lethal Shaw's first two tries and the first of Murray Strang's brace. The stand-off went on to score 30 points, including 10 successful conversions.
Ex-Ardrossan lad Stephen Duffy's bonus-point score arrived soon after as, with Hawick too ready to go to ground in old-fashioned manner, Hawks gave an exhibition of working ball out of contact, using superior upper-body strength to maximum effect.
However, as noted by Cammy Little, Hawks' coach for the day because Peter Wright is in South Africa with the national under-19 squad, this was no mere frolic in the sun. Excellent discipline in the first half particularly contributed to the dismantling of their hosts.
Hawick, who had beaten cup finalists Boroughmuir the week before, can play a bit, as demonstrated by three tries, from Cammy Bruce, the lively Keith Hedley and Ross Armstrong, but defensively they had little answer.
Little also stressed that the big difference from his days in a GHK outfit which too often flattered to deceive is the belief Wright has instilled. Ironically, then, the head coach was the last man left suffering from self-doubt on Saturday, Wright refusing to believe such a scoreline possible until he received photographic evidence.
On the playing side Hawks look like they can go on and on, the recent blip in the Scottish Cup at Currie likely only to inspire greater focus. Certainly there was Borders-style ruthlessness about how they kept going, Sinclair scampering in and Shaw completing a hat trick before the break, while Richie Maxton and Mike Adamson, twice, were the other second-half try-scorers as the dizzying point per minute pace was maintained.
What Hawks must now address is the other aspect of being a sports club. More typical of the old Glasgow rugby mentality is that more club members went with them to Paris for their Six Nations weekend friendly against Racing Club than travelled to Hawick to watch them win the title.
Beyond that, a product this good should sell itself if enough people in Anniesland, and more widely through the West End, were encouraged to feel attachment to Hawks.
They are the first team outside what used to be considered Scottish rugby's heartlands of Edinburgh and the Borders to win the title twice, and if they can reach into their community to generate support, there now seems little to stop them creating the sort of rugby dynasty that was previously the preserve of towns like Galashiels, Melrose, Kelso and, of course, Hawick.

This article was posted on 4-Apr-2005, 07:56 by Hugh Barrow.