Glasgow Hawks 48-29 Heriot's

Thoroughly deserved victory after a testing few weeks and a tricky first half hour that saw Heriots score twice.  Despite a better balance to team still looked a wee bit hesitant early on and conceded 2 soft scores.
Lost possession in own half  proved costly as Heriot's centre chipped ahead, gathered bounce as Hawks defence stopped and slid under posts.0-7 after 4mins.  Line-out  5m out caught but ball spilled and Heriots dived on bounce and over line. 0-12 and Hawks not played yet.  After 20mins started to look more cohesive , forwards running good lines and pressure on Heriot's defence. Countered well from kick ahead, and great off-loads by Robert Wilson and , the returning, Grant Strang allowed Ian noble to dive over. 7-12 with Ross Kennedy's conv, 30mins.  One of  Oki's legendary defensive hits turned ball over and Stu Low capitalised with great run up touch-line and score in corner.  12-12, 34mins gone.  Some erratic refereeing in 1st half finished  with Heriot's kicking pen for off-side, 12-15 H-T.
Couple of changes at half put Oki at 10 and Chris Breck at 13.  Momentum of 1st half became full on onslaught   as 4 tries were scored in next 18mins. Yellow card for Heriot's for breakdown infringement , good scrum and Davide Barbieri scampered over, Oki's conv. 19-15 , 46 mins. Pressure back on , quick phases and audacious drop-goal by Brecko's heel (!) made it 22-15. Coaches not sure whether to clap or  sub him? Great skill!  Tempo now cranked right up and good phases down left stretched defence and Craig Williamson  breenched over beside posts. Oki conv, 29-15.  Straight from k-o ball turned over, Mark Taylor onto loose ball and finished brilliantly form 60m. Oki conv, 36-15.
Confidence high, ability to attack from deep,  showed by break by Robert W, onto Brecko who drew defence and put Sean Murray away for great finish. Oki conv, 43-15.  Scoreboard static for 10mins before good support lines resulted in Louis Kinsey  going on an epic charge 60m into far corner, urged on by team-mates!  48-15.
As the frantic pace relented Heriot's pride drove them  on, capitalised on a sloppy line-out by Hawks and their 7 dived over line, 48-22. Injury time and Heriot's got bonus point after a maul driven upfield for 20m , as Hawks tired. 48-29.
Real all round team effort, when  play is with that intensity and tempo its hard to defend against.  

This article was posted on 18-Oct-2011, 22:15 by Hugh Barrow.