THE SUNDAY HERALD REPORTS

Glasgow Hawks 61 - 11 Stewart's Melville

Alex Gordon at Old Anniesland


THIS IS a match which had everything: tremendous forward play, fantastic back interaction, great support play, tries galore, long bursting runs and selfless tackling. The bad news for the visitors was that all of this entertainment came from Glasgow Hawks.
It was not like this for the whole match. Stewart's Melville took the lead with a penalty by Sam Hendry when Hawks strayed offside. Colleges held onto the lead for all of two minutes before Mike Adamson tied the score with a penalty.

The visitors tried to press Hawks, but when the champions advanced they were always able to find a gap or exploit the errors which Stew-Mel delivered to them on a conveyor belt.

The first Hawks try came in less than 10 minutes when, following a maul and breakdown, they put the ball wide to Stuart Low who hared down the right flank before passing to Mark Sitch, in support. He put the ball to Stevie Gordon who went over for this his first of the afternoon.

The home side were alight, with all 15 players relishing the battle. Gordon and Low, in particular, were out chasing the ball wherever it lay.

Sitch, at times, appeared to be everywhere and was rewarded in the 14th minute when he received the ball 35 metres out, rounded the cover, and ran in for a superb score.

Hawks unfortunately lost the services of Steven Duffy on 20 minutes and they seemed to lose their composure for a time and Stew-Mel pulled three points back with a second Hendry penalty.

Hawks re-organised and it was business as usual in the 29th minute. Colleges were chasing the game when Sky Laurie put a loose pass out to his stand-off. Hawks' Mike Adamson was alert to it, intercepted the ball and then ran 80 metres to score the try as the opposition spectated.

Opportunist? Maybe, but Hawks' pressure played no small part in the visitors error count.

Colleges had no option but to take the game to Hawks, but in doing so they exposed themselves further to the home side, who seemed to be inventing new ways of inflicting pain.

A second interception by Murray Strang in identical circumstances saw him run 50 metres before being tackled by Dave McCall. However, Low appeared at his side to take the ball and score beneath the posts, allowing Adamson an easy two points.

Half time arrived with both tight-head props being sin binned for what appeared to be “hand bags”.

It was the same again in the second half as Hawks illustrated for all to see why they are a mere three bonus points away from the maximum possible at this halfway stage in the season.

In 42 minutes, Adamson broke sublimely from halfway before releasing Gordon to go into the corner. Then, within minutes, Strang broke, laying the ball to Sitch, who released Gordon to complete his hat trick before Stew-Mel could gather breath.

Where was it going wrong for Stew-Mel? The line-out was poor, always under pressure from Hawks. Their pack was squeezed in the scrum and their error count just grew and grew.

In 50 minutes, Hawks pulled further ahead, as Gordon McFadyen, returned from the sin bin, went over from close range.

Low kept the wing double act in the scoring as he claimed his second in 56 minutes, which Adamson goaled. There then came a lull for the home side as Colleges dominated the play for about five minutes. Things went well for them, balls went to hand, and just after the hour, they were rewarded with a try by Paul Wharaqura.

Even if the visitors had played like this before, however, you were left with the impression that Hawks would still have won with plenty to spare.

The home side were unbeatable. Their ninth try came from a scrum right in front of the posts. Sitch's number eight pick-up saw him barge over close to the posts, swatting the opposition as he went over. Adamson goaled for a fourth time.

The scoring had not ended, though. As Stew-Mel scrambled forward to regain some dignity, Richie McKnight intercepted the ball, putting a pass to Stevie Gordon, who ended the spectacle with his fourth try.

06 November 2005














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This article was posted on 6-Nov-2005, 08:55 by Hugh Barrow.