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Preston Grasshoppers - 18 Glasgow Hawks - 34
PRESTON GRASSHOPPERS 18 GLASGOW HAWKS 34
Hoppers can take some encouragement from this warm-up game against a club which has been Scottish Premiership Champions for the last two seasons and, to some extent, paid the penalty for ringing the changes in terms of personnel in the second half. Also, they were without a number of key players, particularly first-choice props Toby Foster and John Peterson, both early victims of injuries.
Having turned round just one point adrift at 18-19, Hoppers could feel somewhat hard done by because they started well enough. A searing break by new signing South African centre 'Apie' Pieterse on halfway was carried on by Olly Viney and a perfectly timed pass to Will Hughes put the winger in at the corner for a copybook backs' try. Paul Bailey converted and then kicked two penalties to open up a 13-point gap.
The injury jinx struck again, however, when Pieterse left the field of play as a precaution after taking a knock on the shoulder and Hawks started to get into the game. Hoppers' re-jigged back line took time to come together and two mistakes gifted the visitors tries but not before replacement centre Mathieu Naddeo had off-loaded out of the tackle to give Will Hughes his second try. Hawks had the last word however with a better-worked try to put them just in front.
The Scots had a much better second period and scored three more tries without reply, two by using their superior forward power after Hoppers had again rung the changes, with several players making debuts at this level. The home pack were far from outplayed, however, and Hoppers were unlucky not to add to their tally of points.
New signings in scrum half Darren Wilson and winger Phil Meadwell both showed some nice touches and, as icing on the cake, after the match Hoppers signed Hawks hooker Dougie Monaghan who is coming to study in the area.
This article was originally posted on 23-Aug-2005, 21:36 by Hugh Barrow.
Last updated by Hugh Barrow on 24-Aug-2005, 08:06.
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