Hawks under 16s lost 17-22 to Hamilton on Sunday

Hawks travelled to Hamilton on Sunday knowing that a win was required to
get us back on the road for National qualification.

Laigh Bent was in surprisingly good condition considering the volume of water
that had landed on the area in the previous 48 hours.

Hawks started brightly pinning Hamilton back into their 22 but could not
breach stiff Hamilton defence. Hawks eventually broke their duck when the
forwrds won a scrum at the edge of the 22, the ball was moved inside to centre
Euan Robertson, who broke the gain line, drew the defence and offloaded to
Kerr Gossman to score between the posts. Euan Robertson converting.

Hamilton 0 Hawks 7

At this stage Hawks forwards were in control, dominating lineouts and solid
in the scrum. However, the referee started penalising Hawks scrummage, and
with a Hamilton official, who was not touch judge, calling just about every
Hawks lineout as squint, when even I without my specs could see that the
opposite was true, Hamilton began to gain some parity.

However, Hawks were finding gaps in the Hamiton defence and one such gap
was exploited yet again by Kerr Gossman following another secure scrum, Kerr
was released from halfway to charge to the line.

Hamilton 0 Hawks 12

Credit to Hamilton. Back they came laying seige to the Hawks line. Aggresive
Hawks defence appeared to be pushing the home side back down the park, but
somehow Hamilton managed to work the ball out to the wing, where despite
some last ditch tackles the ball was grounded right on the line. There was
some question as to whether the player had been in touch before grounding,
but the Hawks touch judge confirmed the try.

HALF TIME:

Hamilton 5 Hawks 12

Hamilton came out of the blocks for the second half boosted by their score,
Hawks allowed the partisan home support and some refereeing decisions get
to them and were conceding a string of penalties which were compounded by
mouthing off to the referee which resulted in Hamilton gaining another 10
yards.

Hamilton drew level with a fine worked back line move which ended with the
ball being grounded in the right hand corner. There followed a superb conversion
from the touchline by the Hamilton full back.

Hamilton 12 Hawks 12

Hawks were finally awarded a penalty under the posts after the home side
failed to retreat from a previous penalty. Somehow the ball managed to fly
between the posts but under the bar.

Shortly after this miss Hamilton were awarded a penalty on the half way line.
Up stepped their full back to send a fantastic kick between the uprights.

Hamilton 15 Hawks 12

Unlike last weekend Hawks heads did not go down. They fought back with the
forwards againn to the fore and were rewarded by a solo effort by Craig McKay
looping around the Hamilton defence for an unconverted try.

Hamilton 15 Hawks 17

With about 5 minutes left Hamilton kicked long up the park, Hawks full back
gathered the ball and under some pressure returned the kick. Unfortunately
the kick landed in the arms of a Hamilton player who held the ball and set
up a sustained Hamilton attack down Hawks left wing. Hamilton sucked in the
Hawks defence then moved the ball left to a 4 man overlap - try for Hamilton.
The full back continued his masterclass in kicking by landing the conversion
from the left touchline.

Hamilton 22 Hawks 17

Hawks launched a desperate attack from the restart, but Hamilton kept their
cool and the final whistle sounded with Hamilton yet again in Hawks half.

FINAL SCORE:

Hamilton 22 Hawks 17

Yet again Hawks lost a match to a team who were no better than them but appeared
to have a greater belief in themselves, stayed focused, and were hungry for
victory.

The squad feel that they can still qualify for the Nationals. However with
2 defeats from what was perceived to be the easier of our remaining games,
with Dalziel (away) and GHA (home) to come, there will need to be a big improvement
in performance in the coming weeks.

Next Sunday, weather permitting, it's off to even sunnier Dalziel.

This article was originally posted on 14-Nov-2006, 08:57 by Hugh Barrow.
Last updated by Hugh Barrow on 14-Nov-2006, 16:57.