When there is a howling gale and scudding showers coming from the New Anniesland end of the ground and you win the toss and play with the wind you have to set a target of keeping the opposition pinned in their own 22, score a minimum of 20 points and press for an early score in the second half to kill off the game. Hawks had clearly read the script and achieved the target. Actually they exceeded the target by scoring 27 points in the first half and scored within 40 seconds of the start of the second half to lead by 32-0. The coaches will be well pleased by the performance. After that they did not have it all their own way as wave after wave of Hillhead/Jordanhill attacks had to be bravely defended in last ditch efforts. It certainly was not easy to work your way upfield in this relentless wind. H/J did score one try but it could have been more. They have a formidable scrummaging unit that gave Hawks a torrid time all afternoon but that was the only phase of the game in which Hawks came second. H/J's certainly made life difficult for themselves as they had great difficulty in keeping the ball in hand. The refereeing team statistics suggested that in the first half alone they mishandled 15 times making life much easier for Hawks. The also failed to reach the 10 metre line with three kick offs, again to Hawks advantage.
This was a good warm up match for Hawks before they play Watsonians in the league next week and it also gives them an interesting tie when Whitecraigs are the visitors to New Anniesland for the semi final in two weeks time.
Hawks were delighted to see Dean Kelbrick and Tom Preece back in the threequarter line after such a long time off through injury even though Tom played on the wing and not in usual berth in the centre. Good to have you back boys.
Hawks have always specialised in small tricky backs with real pace and to the list you can now add Chris Hamilton a boy from Thurso. He can play scrum half, full back and wing threequarter. Yesterday it was fullback and he demonstrated his footballing skills by coming into the line and scoring the first two tries in the opening quarter. In the second half he played scrum half and made the line tick even against the wind. Hawks are indeed fortunate in having two truly versatile players of such class in Chris and the captain Peter Jericevich.
The whole of the back row played well with Ross Miller once again putting in a powerful performance ably backed by Grant Strang and Stephen Leckie.
After the two early tries Tom Stephen got into the act following a tap penalty. There may have been a suspicion of a forward pass here. 5 minutes from half time a slick handling move by the backs resulted in a try by Tom Preece coming in from the opposite wing. Finally with 2 minutes remaining Ross Miller launched off the back of a scrum to plunge over. PJ converted this one for a 27-0 half time lead.
The crowd had barely finished munching their half time welcome hot pie when Hawks attacked up the left touchline to put Tom Steven away from the half way mark. He finished well as he had a lot to do to get past the defenders.
After that it was all H/J's until near the end when following a powerful drive by the forwards Grant Strang used his strength the force his way over under the posts. PJ converted to close the scoring at 39-5.
All in all a satisfactory outcome for Hawks.
This level of performance has to be maintained to keep Hawks in the 1st Division.

This article was posted on 22-Jan-2012, 20:29 by Hugh Barrow.