Heriot\'s take win as red
SCOTLAND ON SUNDAY REPORTS

PLAYED in near perfect conditions, this cracking match only deserved a bigger crowd. There was little to choose between the sides, with Hawks\' Murray Strang the standout stand-off on show. He invariably took the right option and his kicking from hand was immaculate.

The only blot on the afternoon\'s entertainment was the red card for stamping shown to Hawks\' scrum-half Stephen Biggart on 62 minutes. With the match tied 22-22 at the time, it proved decisive because Heriot\'s added late tries from Cameron Goodall, Tam McVie and James Thompson to take the points.

The match was much closer than the 41-22 score suggests, and Hawks will console themselves with the fact that they looked the better side when they could keep 15 men on the field. Heriot\'s scrum-half Graham Wilson had already missed an early penalty when Hawks came up with the first try of the season and it was a pretty good one to kick off with. On a rare foray into the home 22, Hawks moved the ball wide right with left winger Stuart Low making the extra man. John Houston stopped him in his tracks but Hawks recycled and fullback Mike Adamson darted in at the corner.

The little fullback then extended the visitors\' lead. Heriot\'s centre Goodall intercepted a pass, but even as he headed for the posts referee Rob Dickinson had his hand raised to indicate offside and Hawks were three more points to the good.

The match meandered nowhere very much for a while. Strang kicked long and pretty well for the visitors but the home side were gaining confidence and finally got some points on the board. After a period of pressure, Hawks prop Nick Cox was lured offside under his posts and when he was reluctant to give the ball back quickly he was sent to the sin bin. Wilson kicked that penalty, Heriot\'s kept the pressure on and eventually prop Kenny Blyth barged his way over from close range.

No sooner had he done so than Hawks struck back with a well-worked score from replacement prop Gavin Mories who was only on the field for Cox. Hawks finished the half much the stronger of the two teams, with Adamson and Stevie Gordon both coming close to adding another try.

It wasn\'t long in coming. Two minutes after the restart Strang latched on to a loose lineout and sent John Fitzpatrick flying upfield. The flanker showed great pace and presence of mind to pick out Sandy Warnock with an overhead pass to finish the best move of the match.

As happened so often yesterday, though, that was merely the cue for an opposition response and it came from a try by half-time substitute Apo Satala.

Marc Teague then got himself on the end of a clever kick from stand-off Huw Godwin and Wilson\'s touch-line conversion tied the scores at 22 apiece with half an hour still to play. Then Biggart headed for an early shower and Heriot\'s made good their one-man advantage.

Heriot\'s: J Thompson; M Teague, J Houston, C Goodall, G Smeaton; H Goodwin, G Wilson; G Scott, N Meikle, K Blyth, J McCall, G Hann, T McVie, P Eccles (A Satala 40 min), R Deans (capt).

Glasgow Hawks: M Adamson; S Low, A MacLay, S Duffy (capt), S Gordon; M Strang, S Biggart; N Cox, M Smith, R Macallum, A Dale, A Kelly, G Francis, J Fitzpatrick, S Warnock.

Scorers: Heriot\'s - Tries: Blyth, Satala, Teague, Goodall, McVie, Thompson. Cons: Wilson (4). Pen: Wilson. Glasgow Hawks - Tries: Adamson, Mories, Warnock. Cons: Adamson (2). Pen: Adamson

Referee: R Dickinson (Madras)

This article was posted on 27-Aug-2006, 07:36 by Hugh Barrow.