Glasgow Hawks 37 : Watsonians 39

You could be forgiven for believing that some form of second coming had
taken place at the weekend - if you read the reports coming from the
Edinburgh press that is.

Watsonians were good for their money but they certainly weren't as epic
as The Scotsman suggested.

From my own point of view I watched a good game of rugby in which Hawks
played exactly the right game up until half time and then lost their
shape entirely in the second half. The reasons were not to difficult to
see either.

The first half belonged to Hawks and not just for the score differential
either (12 : 27 at half time). Except for the opening minutes when
Watsonians spent some time in the Hawks' half they spent the rest of the
half trooping back to their own half and 22.

Hawks' Kenny Sinclair, Mike Adamson and Murray Strang were always on
hand to take quick ball anywhere in their own half and bang a long
touchfinder. Watsonians forwards must have been sick of the routine of
rampaging forward only to have to turn around and troop back to try and
win the ball again.

In addition Hawks were winning their own lineout apparently with ease.
Time and again Hawks second row were taking the ball courtesy of special
delivery, allowing the half backs and Strang to send Watsonians past Go
- and without the benefit of £200. When they can start taking them off
the opposition as well I'll be a happy super-hero indeed.

At half time, injury rang the changes. Strang's boot was lost and the
lineout started to malfunction.

Clearly Watsonians took some heart from no longer having to trudge back
to their own half and managed to put some scores together.

Along the way I feel I should point out that Samoan Mialo though
undoubtedly hardy proved less than sticky with the ball throughout the
first half. In typical Samoan fashion, though I am biased in such
matters, he attempted to remove Adamson's head in the second half,
conceding a penalty and a yellow card.

I'm prepared to admit that Watsonians showed great spirit in their
comeback during the second half. I'm also confident that last season,
or even next season, they wouldn't, or won't, achieve the same sort of
result against Hawks - assuming that we don't have the same sort of
turnover of personnel that we suffered this season.

The forwards have been slowly improving during the season, though they
have some way to go in street-smarts yet. Hopefully this season has
given them a steep and effective learning curve.

The team, as a whole showed some great cutting edge with a fine
intercept try from a wide-awake Ricky Munday, two from Fitzpatrick, who
shows an excellent work ethic combined with the knack of being in the
right place at the right time: one from Mories and another from Gordon.
With the exception of the intercept they were all well worked and
dynamic and will help to keep the points difference looking good. It's
just a shame, and a small measure of ill fortune, that the league
position doesn't reflect this fact. It doesn't seem quite right to me
that two teams are above Hawks in the table with smaller points
differences - one of them is even negative. Sheesh.

I'm prepared to forecast that Hawks should win their next 3 games
comfortably, assuming no complacency. Maybe I should refer this question
to MYF however as her powers of prophecy, and I'm not prepared to say
what their source may be (though there are no bats or toads in this area
any more), are almost perfect. She told me half way through the second
half on Saturday that Watsonians would just edge the game. Blast her!

They could even take their next 4 games with a fair wind. They're good
enough.

So back to the studio now to see the English pundits putting positive
spin on a record loss to New Zealand.

regards

The Green Phantom

This article was posted on 6-Nov-2006, 18:12 by Hugh Barrow.