Heriot’s did enough in the second-half to edge a dour contest against Glasgow Hawks in their Scottish Hydro Electric Premier Division 1 clash at Goldenacre this afternoon.

Perhaps the fact that both sides are some distance off the pace being set by Boroughmuir at the top of the table might have unleashed the shackles, instead it seemed to have the opposite affect as there was an uncharacteristic diffidence to give the game width from both teams and an error count that rocketed.

Heriot’s probably had the better of the scrummage exchanges and though they appeared somewhat listless in the loose in the first-half, they found a second wind after the break and both prop Bruce McNeil and experienced flanker Tam McVie finished strongly.

Hawks rarely managed to find continuity in their game and though there were promising signs from both their young locks, Alan Kelly and Richard Gray, they did not make much headway in their attempts at rolling maul drives.

After an indifferent opening quarter during which Ruaridh Jackson and Murray Strang miscued penalty attempts for either side, Hawks took the lead in the 28th minute. Off lineout possession former Scotland wing Rory Kerr was released by his stand-off Iain Noble. Kerr waded through what can only be described as weak tackling and though it looked as if he would have the pace to finish, Heriot’s full-back Colin Goudie contrived to miss-time his tackle to such an extent that he pushed Kerr towards the try line.

The hosts introduced Graham Wilson at scrum-half for the second-half and though he made a hash of a scrum collapse penalty – Jackson was wide with an effort in response too – he was soon comforting the home support with the conversion of wing Marc Teague’s adept try from McNeil’s slick pass, and a penalty, just after the hour, for lineout malpractice.

Heriot’s made the game safe on 70 minutes when from lineout possession secured by Peter Eccles, ball was transferred sweetly left for Goudie to break at pace and offload perfectly for McVie to crash over. Wilson converted and added a 79th minute penalty to reward the home pack for their persistence.

This article was posted on 21-Oct-2007, 13:55 by Hugh Barrow.