THE HERALD REPORTS

Edinburgh Accies 18 - 15 Glasgow Hawks
NEIL DRYSDALE December 03 2007
David Wilson, the Hawks coach, emerged belatedly from the dressing room after this tussle, and the normally genial character was an ashen-faced picture of frustration and fury while he attempted to rationalise this latest defeat for his struggling troops.

As the denouement beckoned, with the visitors trailing 18-15, the Glaswegians were awarded a penalty straight in front of the posts from no distance whatsoever. Yet, instead of assessing the situation with his colleagues, scrum-half, Stephen Biggart, elected to tap and run and the move subsequently fizzled out in a crescendo of anti-climax.

"That just about summed up the whole afternoon for us. If we had kicked the penalty and walked away with a draw, it would have kept Accies at bay in the relegation battle, whereas now they have moved three points closer to us," said Wilson, whose personnel, sorely depleted by years of SRU cherry-picking, had better accept that nobody involved in this Scottish Hydro Electric Premiership battle can afford to dwell on past glories.

advertisement"We had a serious talk with the guys at the end, because they have to realise that our performance today simply wasn't good enough, and we will see how they respond in the weeks ahead.

"We gave Accies 10 points of a start, which you just can't afford to do at this level, we committed far too many basic mistakes for comfort, and although we had the advantage of the wind in the second half, we still got bogged down too often."

The delight amongst Accies' players and supporters was understandable, especially considering results elsewhere, and few neutrals would begrudge them this triumph. Their voluble coach, Ian Barnes, had lambasted his own players in the match programme for their feckless display against Hawick - "We were soft and stupid and we didn't have an answer - talk about taking sweeties from bairns - it was criminal," which probably explains the urgency of the Raeburn Place brigade as they surged into the lead.

Within six minutes, the electrifying Matt Coupar had served notice of his blistering pace to unlock Hawks' defence, and with Greg Laidlaw slotting the conversion, and adding another impeccable penalty, the hosts were well in control, assisted significantly by a litany of turnovers, forward passes and poor decision-making from Wilson's ensemble.

Eventually, they did string together some decent passages of action, but it was a measure of their difficulties that they didn't enter Accies 22 for the first time until the 24th minute. And, although Stewart Smith reduced the deficit with a try at the climax of a series of assaults, Ian Noble missed his conversion from the touchline, and the home side increased their cushion to 13-5 at the interval with another sweet Laidlaw kick.

Five years ago, this scenario wouldn't remotely have bothered Hawks, particularly with the conditions in their favour upon the resumption, and for a spell, they seemed capable of seizing a stranglehold on proceedings. Noble landed a penalty, as the prelude to converting a stunning touchdown from Marc Davids, and suddenly, the Anniesland men were in front, and apparently set to emphasise their superiority in the final quarter.

That, at least, was the theory. But it never materialised. On the contrary, Accies, watched by the 1990 Grand Slam-winning captain, David Sole, whose son, Jamie, entered the field as a late replacement, launched a spirited counter-offensive, well-served by their bustling locks, Ed Stuart and Nathan Pike, and the ubiquitous Coupar dived in for his second try, following a sustained drive from his team's pack.

As the gloaming descended, and the chill wind intensified, Accies clung on and on, despite being grilled by their opponents. But they survived even if the hapless Biggart will be asking himself this morning what on earth he thought he was doing.

This article was posted on 3-Dec-2007, 08:29 by Hugh Barrow.