Glasgow Hawks 15 : Boroughmuir 14

I'm reluctant to quote too much of Southey's anti-war poem because so
much of it contains little that could be construed as having sufficient
double meaning for a rugby review. Perhaps Murray Strang will pen
another parody to match his 'Stop all the clocks'?

Perhaps the lines

"But what good came of it at last?"
Quoth little Peterkin.
"Why that I cannot tell,"

may resonate in that Hawks remain in the middle of the table with little
prospect of advancing much further.

Nevertheless it was a tense game and an excellent result for Hawks
following their drubbing by 'muir earlier in the season. Evidence
perhaps that the show is getting back on the road? Given the staunch
performance from the team I'd say yes, as there's no question in my mind
that they dug deep to deny 'muir any chance of momentum whatsoever. The
Hawks are learning that while solid defence may not win games it
certainly makes your own points worth so much more.

The low score could be taken to mean that the game was a somewhat dour
affair.

Far from it! The first quarter sparkled with attack and counter-attack
snuffed out. Hawks support was moved, despite its breeding, to gasp out
loud occasionally as the lads exhibited courage in the face of the
enemy. Although the game settled down later - as witnessed by some truly
half-hearted tackling in the second half, it still retained tension up
until the final whistle.

We were eleven minutes in to the first half when delightfully fast hands
from Low just inside 'muir's half, gave Gordon the opportunity to streak
through the defence like an exocet to the middle of the try line. Strang
took responsibility for the easy conversion. If Low can just develop a
kick as dangerous as his sidestep...

Five minutes later and the Hawks' supporters hearts were in their mouths
as 'muir broke away for a certain try with Kerr as the last line of
defence. Two terrible knock ons from Kerr earlier left the stand
certain that 'muir were out of the blocks but a truly spectacular try
stopper saved the day.

It was deep in injury time that 'muir had their next opportunity when a
sitter of a penalty went wide thus sending the teams for their oranges
with Hawks only seven : nil up.

They wasted no time in starting the second half however with an absolute
sucker punch of a try almost the length of the pitch in development,
good lines, helped by some poor tackling allowed White to touch down in
the far corner. A difficult conversion went over for seven all.

Hawks recovered and spent the best part of ten minutes moving the ball
fluidly between forwards and backs taking the ball to 'muir's 22. With
a try looking certain and a two man overlap what looked like 'white line
fever' meant a missed opportunity.

Almost immediately however Strang was given the chance to bag a penalty
from in front of the posts.

Building on the momentum Hawks took the ball from the restart and pushed
hard. They gained an attacking maul on the far side of the pitch and in
the resulting melee, over the line, Francis got the vital hands on the ball.

Muir responded immediately with another sucker punch that owed as much
to a seeming lack of enthusiasm in the tackle as it did to attacking
flair. It left a tense final quarter as both teams battled hard for
ultimate mastery.

For much of the game Hawks' aggressive defense left Boroghhmuir going
back behind their own gain line while Hawks were invariably able to make
at least a metre or two, Where they seemed to fall down badly though was
in surrending turnover in good attacking positions having done all the
hard work.

With two tough games to come against Curry away and Ayr at home they
will have to dig deep, they've shown however that they can do it.

Currie will be smarting, first at the drubbing they received from Hawks
at Old Anniesland and secondly from their narrow defeat away to Ayr
yesterday.

In my view the skills have been on display for several weeks now, the
next step is about confidence and sheer bad tempered dog.

Back to the studio where Sue Barker will smile quietly as she thinks
about Ally McCoist's roguish charms.

regards

The Green Phantom

This article was originally posted on 10-Dec-2006, 18:00 by Hugh Barrow.
Last updated by Hugh Barrow on 10-Dec-2006, 21:10.