Ayr 33-27 Glasgow Hawks

Hawks been toiling under an avalanche of injuries, the count reaching 22 before k.o on Saturday!!! Hence a perfect chance to use the burgeoning youth policy. 1st starts of season for  youthful C.Little, and age-no-barrier S.Inglis. For those teammates of Scotty from a bygone era, yes it is the same battler and no he hasn't lost any pace!  Without him we would have struggled to get a front row with the list of injured, huge respect deserved.
Been difficult  for players to work as units with all the changes and took 40mins to settle. Ross Kennedy made it 3-0 early on but then 2 lost scrum put ins and a slippy ball escaping Alex , on the wing, put Ayr into a 19-3 lead.
HT gave us a refocus, chance to play at tempo that suits and Ayr would struggle with. Break by Cammy, moved to Alex , great pace and delayed pass to Louis for try in  corner. 8-19.  Louie's last act as he was needed as cover for 1st's.  So 14 men 11pts down- real character shown to battle 20-19 ahead. Scores from David Mitchell , after  good scrum ball  and great attacking line from Hoggy after umpteenth break by age-defying stand-off.  10mins left victory in sight!?  Having given them 3 scores by our mistakes , why not give a 4th(?),  added by throwing interception when trying to get out of own 22!!!  Compounded by missed tackle from line-out , Ayr's no.8 and best player ran 60m to put score 20-33. Back the 14 came- great rucking gave momentum for Dave Ferguson to reach over and conv from Ross , 27-33. 2mins left- pressure on Ayr line, all Hawks but guddle at back of ruck and ref decided that was that. Heroic effort with 14, but no win. Season has become a real dog-fight but massive character shown bodes well. Balance of experience and youth should be the way ahead!  

This article was originally posted on 3-Oct-2011, 20:14 by Hugh Barrow.
Last updated by Hugh Barrow on 3-Oct-2011, 20:43.