THE HERALD REPORTS

Glasgow Hawks 24 - 10 Hawick
David Wilson, the Hawks coach, could afford a glimmer of a smile after his men produced a victory after two successive defeats that had left them third bottom in the league table.

On paper, Hawks have a lot of talent but getting the right gel has been the problem. On Saturday the right mix was not far away, with perhaps the inclusion of prodigal sons Colin Shaw and Mark Sitch having much to do with it.

Glasgow squad full back Shaw was in the mood to impress on his return and played his part in attacking moves to great effect. Flanker Sitch, after a sojourn Down Under, won the ball with strength and belligerence.

More compatible links between Hawks' pack and backs was obvious, with the forwards coming off best in the tussles with the Borderers, who were hampered by a lack of thrust behind them.

Hawick coach Jim Hay felt Hawks were a far better team than previous results implied. He said: "Going by Hawks form recently, I felt we had a chance coming here. But it wasn't to be. They were a big pack and murdered us in the lineout. They are also a bit more streetwise than my young team. When the pressure was on some of our players could not cope."

Although Hawks scored three tries in the first half - Kenny Sinclair, Colin Shaw and Roraidh Kerr getting the touchdowns - the game degenerated with too many spilled passes and penalties spoiling any continuity.

The Borderers picked up their try when Andy Wilson charged down an attempted clearance by Ian Noble and ran 50 metres to score.

Noble, the Hawks fly-half, compunded his error by missing kicks which would would have brought a further seven points. In the end however he became a hero when his superb meandering thrust set up a situation from which Gary Strain scored the all important fourth try for a bonus.

Coach Wilson was happy to get the five points and was delighted that his forwards who, as he put it, had taken a lot stick recently, came good.

He said: "It was not a perfect performance by any means, but it's all about confidence and this result will help greatly. We can enjoy the weekend now, but it's back to work for the next one against GHA. That is always a hard match."

12:14am today



By HARRY McARTHUR

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This article was posted on 29-Oct-2007, 08:07 by Hugh Barrow.