Todays Herald reports

Glasgow Hawks 39 - 10 Melrose
HARRY McARTHUR at Old Anniesland October 23 2006
The after-match talking point at Old Anniesland was not about Hawks' exaggerated victory but about one man - referee Andy Ireland. The professional whistler red-carded Melrose winger Mark Robertson with 16 minutes of regular time to be played.
When asked later to explain his action, Mr Ireland would only say: "The player was dismissed for dissent. I'm saying nothing more."
Obviously the referee's report will contain the actual wording of the player's dissent but the dismissal left a cloud over a game that was hardly one to rave about anyway, but intriguing enough to keep everyone interested. Craig Chalmers, the Melrose coach, was fuming at the end.
"That sending-off was a disgrace. It ruined the finish to a game that could have gone either way. The red card was for dissent I believe - I don't know exactly what Mark was supposed to have said after he had been penalised - but I'm sure it did not warrant the referee's reaction. A yellow card perhaps, but not a red one.
"The game's all about players not a man in a white shirt. He just killed the game totally for both teams. Players shouldn't speak back I know, but he [Robertson] is just a young man making his way in the game. Commonsense could have prevailed here, it didn't need a red card.
"Having said that Hawks deserved to win through their second-half show. We did well in the first period, but they took over after the turn-round."
Hawks coach David Wilson did not dwell on the sending-off, just remarking that "it did not do Melrose any favours."
He went on: "We played so much better in the second half and would perhaps have won anyway. We started to take the initiative and retained the ball better."
That was true. There were some great passages of play between forwards and backs and that put Hawks on the road to victory. The introduction of Gordon Macfadyen and Matt Smith brought greater stability to the pack and there was more purpose to the driving mauls and the feed to the backs.
Fly-half Mike Adamson threw off the disappointment of two missed kicks to assert his skills in play-making. Hawks benefited and had long spells in Melrose territory. Hawks had actually taken the lead at 11-10 with an Adamson penalty four minutes before Robertson left the field.
Melrose elected to play on with a full pack of forwards, leaving the left-wing berth vacant, and Hawks cashed in to the tune of four tries in 15 minutes as the game drifted into overtime.
The victory and the four-try bonus point will move Hawks up the table a bit and they will be heartened by the continuing improvement of the young players drafted in this season.
Melrose's Robertson will be a very disappointed young man. The sending off and possible ban will have repercussions on his career this season with the Border Reivers for whom he played on Friday night in the Heineken Cup thrashing of Italian side Parm

This article was originally posted on 23-Oct-2006, 07:21 by Hugh Barrow.
Last updated by Hugh Barrow on 23-Oct-2006, 07:21.