THE HERALD REPORTS
Biggar 20 - 30 Glasgow Hawks

HARRY McARTHUR October 17 2005

FRUSTRATION is the word that has cropped up regularly during Hawks\' almost inevitable trundle to the top of the table this season. It will certainly be mentioned in this assessment of the action at Hartreemill, only this time the agitation will come from both teams.
The travelling fans had five tries to celebrate but there is still that aggrieved look on their faces, as though it should have been even better. The ability is there, the promise is there, but so far they have been denied the ultimate performance. A bit of fine-tuning is required.
The Biggar fans, with coach Gary Parker not unexpectedly the most vociferous, felt cheated at not getting at least a losers\' bonus point. To be robbed of that in the sixth minute of extra time was hard to bear. \"For all our effort and commitment, it was hard to take that we didn\'t get a bonus point,\" said Parker.
\"Frustration creeps in when you have put so much into a game and get nothing out of it. And it came from yet another decision that went against us so late in the game. We turned their man with the ball but got penalised and they ended up having two cracks with penalties, and the second one went over to deprive us of a point.
\"Sometimes I feel there is a set of laws for the opposition on the ground, and laws for us on the ground. I told the boys at the end that they will have to work hard to make sure the 50-50 decisions go in their favour.
\"When you get to this level, you have got to be prepared to learn from every game. You will never beat referees. You\'ve got to learn that decisions won\'t be changed and you\'ve got to take extra care. We must concentrate on the game, not the referee.\"
David Wilson, the Hawks coach, was happy with his team\'s first-half performance but expressed reservations about the remainder of the game.
\"We talked about producing quality rugby from the beginning of the game, and we did. I was pleased with that but very disappointed with the second half. We made far too many mistakes with ball in hand and there was little continuity. We never really seemed to relax and you could see frustration creeping in.
\"Scoring five tries to two should be pleasing, and it is to an extent, but I find it frustrating that things are not gelling as they should. The expectation is there but perhaps the decision- making is not quite right, and consequently we are defeating ourselves in some moves rather than the opposition doing it.\"
The Hawks fans should have been happy with the situation at half-time: four tries scored and the bonus point already in the bag. But then again, there were palpitations when, having run up a 12-3 lead, they allowed Biggar to take the lead with two Quintan Sanft penalties and his conversion of a Chad Slade try.
However, Richard Woods was sin-binned and Hawks scored two further tries before the break. It was not a dirty game but three further yellow cards were flashed.
While Hawks held out when Neil McKenzie went off, Biggar conceded another try when Fraser Campbell was shown the way to the touchline. But typical of Biggar, they still did not give up and when Hawks\' Mark Sitch was shown the final yellow card, they cashed in with a terrific drive in which Mike Erskine went over.
With Sanft converting, there was a mighty roar to celebrate the bonus point. But it was not to be. Although a man short, Hawks came back and Murray Adamson popped over a final penalty to inflate Hawks\' score.

This article was posted on 17-Oct-2005, 08:55 by Hugh Barrow.