Hawks 2’s versus GHA 28/10/06

Firstly apologies for no report last week. Points scorers were Chris Lyall with a try and KB with 2 penalties and a conversion – and we didn’t play as well as we could have and should have. And let’s move on.

Changes this week – let’s see if I can get this right- Ricky Munday at full back, Oatey starting on the wing, Sean at 9, Davy Stewart at hooker, Willie Wong at prop fresh from locking out the 2nd row last week, Stu Pollock moving to 6 and Phil Ludford returning from injury at 8. This allowed us to put out a team with potentially 5 jumpers in the lineout so it was to be hoped that this would keep a sharp-looking set of backs supplied with ball.

The exchange ref got lost on his way to the ground so kick-off was delayed by 15 minutes but both teams seemed unaffected by the delay and it was Hawks who hit the ground running for a change, with two contrasting tries in the 1st ten minutes. The first came from a catch and drive, with ‘baby steps’, after 8 minutes which allowed Phil to make it a scoring return to action. The 2nd was for that try scoring machine known as Rory Love but neither could be converted by KB from wide out. In the 23rd minute it looked like Rory had his 2nd of the afternoon when he finished off some slick interplay from Hawks’ 10m line, but the home touch judge had his flag out-?- for foul play, as Sack was involved in some handbags back in the Hawks half, having been set upon by 2 or 3 GHA players. The ref, who had witnessed none of this and was following play, took advice -?- from the TJ and reversed the awarding of the try. In all my time involved in 2nd XV rugby I have only once seen a similar situation, ironically also at Braidholm, and it’s my understanding that as TJ’s at this level are not neutral, they cannot interfere in such instances. However it was to prove a slight turning point as Jamie was still smarting from this injustice when he became involved at a ruck 3 minutes later and, instead of taking up his guard position, was dragged into another bout of fisticuffs, allowing GHA to score under the posts. Twenty five minutes gone, Hawks 10 GHA 7.

The young GHA team were knocking their more experienced opponents off their stride far too easily, helped in part by some relaxed refereeing at the ruck, but more by their own inability to protect the ball in contact. Too many players are drifting in and out of games and letting concentration levels drop in this vital area. Getting there isn’t enough, we have to be more aggressive and ruthless in our desire to protect the ball. When we execute a lineout drive, players pulling down the maul have to become a piece of turf as we did with the 1st try. Not just once but consistently.

Luckily Hawks were able to reassert themselves before half time and Rory eventually got his 2nd try despite an attempted football style slide tackle as he dotted down.

Harsh words were spoken at half time concerning the importance of the next score, and fortunately it was to be Hawks who took the initiative with 2 contrasting tries, one for Justin Reid from close in and the hat-trick try for Rory, both converted by KB.
45 minutes played Hawks 29 GHA 7
Quite frankly the next 13 minutes were a disgrace from Hawks point of view as GHA scored 3 unanswered tries. Weak tackling, poor decision making and yet again poor contact skills gave the initiative to GHA and the stronger teams in the League would have punished us even more severely. This didn’t look like the Hawks team who defended so well when down to 14 men against Boroughmuir, that they were able to score a crucial try. This looked like 15 men who had only just met – or who thought they had the game sewn up. Although there was an element of doubt about the final GHA try when the corner flag was taken out by the scoring player – as far as I’m aware that change in the Laws has only been trialled as an experiment so maybe the GHA touch judge was getting ahead of the times – it was Hawks attitude which was most disconcerting. Luckily some harsh words from Kiddsy, focussed the players and Sean Murray made a characteristic break from a ruck on half way (probably a better option than his pass!) and, using the Love Machine as a decoy, sprinted away to score.

The last 20 minutes were scoreless apart from Jamie getting himself sin-binned after retaliating once too often and Hawks held out their opponents to win 34-22.

If I was writing a report for my work it would probably read “ Has to apply more diligently. Certainly has the potential to be the best, but poor concentration levels are hindering progress. Must improve standard of work before next examination (Watsonians). COULD DO BETTER!”

This article was posted on 30-Oct-2006, 08:22 by Hugh Barrow.