Kilmarnock 24 - Glasgow Eckies 7


The last time these two teams had met on league duty was in 1995 under the lights at Bellsland where again Kilmarnock took the spoils. To put it into perspective back then Ally Maclay was a nipper.
That game was notable mainly for one reason, a young New Zealander who had arrived in Scotland as a flanker was being tried out on the wing for Eckies the first time that evening. Well after James Adams rounded Glen Metcalf twice to win the game for Kilmarnock the experiment was shelved and Snowy was moved to full back where he enjoyed a great career at Hawks, Glasgow and for Scotland.


Ten years later and Adams is still rounding players at Bellsland, but the Eckies came as usual with great expectation and played their usual brand of running rugby that they are revered for throughout the land.
Coached well by ex Hawks pair Simon Wintle and Chas Afuakwah, the Eckies web site proclaims that they have one of the strongest coaching set ups in Scotland. I presume that this is in the gym then!

As noted by the Web master both sides featured a variety of ex (or reject) Hawks. Kevin Horton and his bionic knee showed a lot of quality for the Eckies and player coach Tony Wright highlighted that fitness should never be a real barrier when playing down the leagues.

As stated Eckies played some great rugby and opened the scoring however after that they never troubled the score keeper, eh that is if there had been a score keeper. Kilmarnock rattled in three tries before the whistle and one after showing that their cutting edge is why they are at the top end of the league and the Eckies are mid table.

However I am sure it will be a different story for the return match. Eckies may look as though they are out of the promotion race, but one thing is guaranteed they are a good side with a lot of potential capable of beating anyone within the league on their day.

This article was posted on 2-Nov-2005, 18:34 by Hugh Barrow.