THE HERALD REPORTS

Glasgow Hawks 34 - 18 Heriot’s
This full-on, no-holds-barred tie featuring two teams intent on running the ball at every opportunity was the ideal antidote to the gloom that had engulfed Scottish rugby over the preceding week.

Hawks were the hungrier, showing that they are keen to secure the cup and fill the gap in the Anniesland trophy room left by the loss of the title.

They were 14 points up in as many minutes and well on their way to booking a quarter-final tie against Stewart\'s Melville. Scrum-half Kenny Sinclair darted down the flank and released John Maclay for the first, then Murray Strang converted then touched down for No.2 and again added the extra two points.

Heriot\'s gradually worked their way into the match and clawed back three points with a penalty by Graham Wilson. And they were right back in the contest when Marc Teague pounced for a try after Stuart Low had spilled a high cross kick from John Houston.

In the dying seconds of the first period, Sandy Warnock sent Maclay thundering over for a second time and Strang again converted to re-establish daylight between the sides.

Strang extended the gap when he landed a penalty shortly after the restart and Hawks made the game safe with half an hour left to play when Donald Malcolm made the hard yards and set up Neil Caddell for try No.4, with Strang converting.

Heriot\'s produced another flurry of activity but lacked composure in the strike zone and had only a try by Steve Manning to show for their efforts.

Fittingly, Strang had the final word, thumping over a long-range penalty to complete the scoring.

Hawks forwards coach Dave Cockburn was delighted with the way his side had shrugged off the absence of several established players.

\"That was a great team effort,\" he said. \"We had so many guys missing we could have used that as an excuse. I thought there were some great individual performances. The forwards were immense and our backs are a quality act. Kenny Sinclair just stamped his class all over it.\"

10:08pm Sunday 1st April 2007



By COLIN RENTON

This article was posted on 2-Apr-2007, 07:13 by Hugh Barrow.