THE HERALD REPORTS
Glasgow Hawks 28 - 32 Boroughmuir

KEVIN FERRIE at Old Anniesland January 08 2007

Poor Nick Cox was mortified. Just one match under the new experimental laws and Hawks' senior prop believed the end was nigh for rugby as he knows and loves it. "Nick has just said he feels like he's been at a funeral," grinned Davie Wilson, their head coach, a former back. He reckons this is the end for players like him."
That view was at least partly endorsed by Rob Dickson, the match referee who has taken charge of Test matches during his 16-year career so should be well placed to judge.
"I think the maul is dead and buried," he said bluntly, as we talked through the impact of a law-making overhaul designed to make the game easier for players, officials and spectators to understand.
Dickson was also astute enough to place that in context, however, recognising that Saturday's teams were among those best suited, philosophically, to embrace what is being proposed. "We were lucky today in having two sides in Hawks and Boroughmuir who will always give you positive rugby," he noted.
"It was difficult to say how much the new laws made a difference and how much it was down to a different attitude. I definitely sensed a different attitude from the players.
"There was less work for the referee in the tackle, which is a good thing as far as I'm concerned. Players just got on and played the ball.
"I think it will encourage teams to drive fast and low into the tackle which may take us back 20-odd years in Scotland to coming in, hitting the tackle hard and driving beyond it. Once Boroughmuir started doing that, particularly in the second half, they won a bit more ball. There were certainly more turnovers and overall I was quite impressed."
The big men in the front five were not alone in suffering discomfort. As a flying winger it must have been galling for Stevie Gordon to be receiving treatment for cramp while the match-winning try was being scored on the other side of the pitch.
That was Boroughmuir's fourth touchdown, matching their hosts' haul and it was encouraging that one match into the new Scottish Hydro Electric Super Cup we already had that rarest of outcomes, a match from which maximum bonus points were extracted.
Bill Nolan, the Ayrshireman who is in charge of the International Rugby Board panel that is running this experiment, was impressed, drawing favourable comparison with the initial trials at South Africa's Stellenbosch University.
He said: "The skill levels here are higher and the game was played at a faster pace," was his substantial tribute to the Scottish club game, considering the reputation of Stellenbosch for playing the game stylishly."
He, too, opted to reserve judgment though, noting that this was not quite what had been anticipated when switching from those firm South African pitches to mid-winter in the most northerly of the sport's leading nations.
It was, too, rather amusing to hear one club official who rates himself something of an authority on the game, complaining bitterly about hands being used in a ruck, when that is allowed under these laws. Easier for newcomers to the sport to understand, those set in their ways may need to do some homework.
That said on first experience there was a hint of Chinese meal syndrome here since it was tasty enough fare, fairly easily digested without, in the end, being entirely satisfying. So desperate were both sides to avoid conceding penalties at the breakdown that at times it resembled a 15-a-side version of sevens rugby, overly frantic and shapeless.
Since the Super Cup will be mixed in with the more established domestic tournaments played under the existing laws, it may be hard to get the continuity required, but the hope is that teams will find a way of getting more structure into matches.
As for this one it was slightly ironic that, with both sides scoring four tries and Hawks converting all theirs, penalties by Elgan O'Donnell and Scott Hadden that ultimately made the difference.
They came in a first half which saw Rory Coupar's brace of tries for Boroughmuir sandwich Hawks scores from Mike Adamson and John Fitzpatrick, both of which were set up by the livewire winger, Max Evans.
The older brother of Thom, who has made such an impression with Glasgow Warriors this season, claimed their third and Greig Francis their fourth as they took the lead.
However, either side of those tries were two more from Boroughmuir and, Nick Cox take note, both were scored by props, Freddie Lait and Cameron Ward.
Perhaps all is not yet lost for the front-row union.

This article was posted on 8-Jan-2007, 08:55 by Hugh Barrow.