Two weeks ago Hawks travelled to Ayr with 16 players and succeeded in achieving
their first ever win in Burns' country.

Yesterday we were down to a bare 15 players, having lost Lloyd Mawson in
a serious skiing accident resulting in a titanium plate and pins in his leg
(I'm saying nothing about west end boys and skiing), Peter Hall not yet recovered
from a broken thumb and two call offs.

We sent out the boys to a muddy Anniesland to face our friends from Burnbrae
praying that there would be no injuries.
Well, the sun shone on Anniesland, but unfortunately not the gods on Hawks.

West started strongly putting Hawks under immediate and sustained pressure.
Hawks were having difficulty getting the ball out of their half as West mounted
attack after attack.

Fifteen minutes played, centre Craig MacKay sustained a neck and shoulder
injury forcing him off the park, leaving Hawks with 14 players. Craig returned
to the fray, only to be injured again, and once again Hawks were down to
14.

The team were battling for every ball, but worse was to follow. With Craig
still off, winger Stephen Dwyer made a try saving tackle on Hawks line, ending
up at the bottom of a pile of bodies. His scream was heard back at
half way, his leg had been caught and twisted as the bodies piled on top
of him. Thankfully nothing appeared to be broken but he was carried off the
park, Hawks now down to 13 players for the last 5 minutes.

Despite their numerical advantage West could not cross the Hawks line thanks
to exceptional defence by the Hawks.

Half Time:

Hawks 0 West 0

Hawks were still confident at half time and with Craig returning to the action,
albeit not at full capacity, the team felt they could get a result.

Hawks battled for every ball, the line out was functioning, the scrum was
holding it's own and when the forwards got on the front foot they put West
under pressure and started creating openings for the backs.

Centre Kerr Gossman suffered a kick to the head when on the ground, which
was unfortunately missed by the referee.

West started to exert some pressure on Hawks defence and eventually Hawks
ran out of cover as West scored the opening try, which was then converted.

Hawks 0 West 7

Back came Hawks again taking the game to West with some tremendous driving
by the forwards, then Craig MacKay launched an attack from Hawks 22 swotting
aside tackle after tackle before being finally stopped in the West 22.

The exertions were beginning to tell on Hawks and West began to make their
extra numbers, and replacements, count.

Hawks were penalised in their 22, West took a quick tap penalty and their
number 8 charged over the line unimpeded for the second try.

Hawks continued to battle but could not get the score their play warranted.

Final Score:

Hawks 0 West 12

A disappointing result, but a huge performance by the 15 Hawks.

Considering that Hawks played the entire second half with 14 players which
probably equated to, at the most, 13 fit players, it is testament to the
spirit, skill and never say die attitude of the Hawks that it took West
55 minutes to score their first try.

Thankfully none of our injured players required hospital treatment,and will
hopfully return to the fray sooner rather than later.

Hopefully we'll get our numbers back up for next weekend for our game against
Hillhead.

Cheers

Gordon

This article was originally posted on 27-Feb-2007, 08:15 by Hugh Barrow.
Last updated by Hugh Barrow on 27-Feb-2007, 14:37.