Glasgow Hawks 10 - 13 Ayr
It was a big, big day for Ayr as they recorded their first ever victory over the Hawks in a match that brought out the defensive qualities of both sides.

Hawks obviously knew of Ayr's forward power and sensibly tried to take the ball away from the scrummaging areas. They did so successfully in the first half but in the second period Ayr took control, yet managed only one score - a penalty.

Ayr's decision to play Ken Diffenthal at fly-half because of his goal-kicking qualities paid off with a conversion of Andy Wilson's try and a second half penalty.

Hawks' Mike Adamson missed three very kickable shots in the first 50 minutes, but he put Hawks first points on the scoreboard in the second half with a penalty then converted Steve Gordon's superb try to bring the scoreline to an edgy one point gap.

David Wilson, the Hawks' coach, did not feel that the team changes enforced on him made a lot of difference. "The two boys in the second row, Ally Dale and newcomer Aussie Josh Clements, did well enough. What did disappoint me was that having given Ayr a lot to think about in the first half we totally lost control of the game. That's not an easy way to play rugby."

The Ayr line-up contains so many experienced heads not many teams will overrun them. Glen Tippett, Scott Forrest and Damien Kelly were always a hot handful in the forward forages. Even when Kelly was forced out of the game through injury in the first quarter his replacement, Scott Sutherland, slotted in so successfully he will be difficult to displace.

While the game was always going to be tight, referee Paul Barr did not help in the continuity of the game by awarding so many pernickety penalties.

12:29am today



By HARRY McARTHUR

This article was originally posted on 12-Nov-2007, 09:07 by Hugh Barrow.
Last updated by Hugh Barrow on 12-Nov-2007, 09:08.