Glasgow Hawks 15 v Heriots 22

It is autumn, a sunless afternoon in the suburb, starless and
bible-black... as Dylan Thomas definitely didn't write as his opening
line to 'Under Milk Wood'. Nevertheless a dark afternoon in terms of
both conditions and the outcome of the return match with Heriots.

The season opener, way back when, was an unlucky affair for Hawks with
an unjustified, in my opinion, red card deciding the outcome of the game.

The return match at Old Anniesland provided an... eccentric?... referee,
two lacklustre teams and a player wearing what would be described during
a night on the town as a 'beer force-field'. I refer of course to
Heriots' Satala who appears to be untouchable by Hawks players. I say
this of course knowing that I don't have the onerous task of tackling
him myself. He's a big, powerful bloke, as you'd expect from an
international player but, like Jonah Lomu, to use a recent example, he
can't run without his legs. True you do need long arms to get around
Lomu's thighs, even more true the current thinking goes that the tackle
should tie up man and ball, ideally dislodging the ball, which means a
league type approach at chest height.

I can only say that when I was introduced to rugby some years ago
I was initially taught how to stop the opposition player by getting my
shoulder under the trailing buttock, or squarely into the midriff and
ensuring that his legs could no longer move independently.
I remember too when this was all green fields and grates were covered in
black lead. To continue.

It occured to me, once again, that Hawks were slow to start the game and
only really came alive in the second half. Either there's something
powerfully good in those oranges or they suddenly realise that the
opposition is being contained and is beatable.

It certainly struck me that Hawks were much the livelier team in the
second half. So what happened given that the half time scoreline was
only 15:10 to Heriots? Well, I'm firmly convinced that a single decision
swung the day in favour of Heriots and that was the decision to kick for
the attacking lineout instead of taking an easy 3 point penalty about 20
minutes in.

Consider. Heriots were starting to doubt themselves. The penalty reduced
the lead to two points. The restart may well have returned the ball to
Hawks. Getting the try from the lineout however still left the need for
another two if the thinking was to go for the bonus point win. 3 points
were a certainty, 7 merely speculative.

As I so often concede, what does a dinosaur in a green cape and tights
know about it?

At least I had the pleasure of watching Hawks score a thrilling try -
which may have been what gave them their confidence boost going towards
half time.

Mike Adamson made a searing break from just inside Heriots' half and the
middle of the pitch. He streaked right, leaving defenders groping at air
before offloading the ball, I think, to his wing who continued the move
by straightening up and heading back left, passing to Steve Gordon who
was able to accelerate even further and dot down beside the posts. It
looked to me as though there was still a thin wisp of smoke rising from
the boots of all three players as the conversion sailed over.

I wonder sometimes if Adamson has an afterburner in his boots.

During the second half, Satala was eventually given the ball with about
35 metres to go. He sauntered in, in his trademark way scattering loose
tackles like confetti, giving an easy conversion to his kicker.

A late try for Hawks gave us the consolation of a losing bonus point.
Looking at the outstanding fixtures however I can't help feeling that
there are several win bonus points just waiting to come our way.

Back to the studio and John Inverdale for a competition to find the best
excuse for Andy Robinson to explain away England's next loss to New
Zealand.

regards

The Green Phantom

This article was posted on 29-Oct-2006, 20:17 by Hugh Barrow.