Date: Saturday, 12th December 2009
Kickoff time: 15:00
Against: West of Scotland
Team: Hawks 1st XV
Location: Away
Competition: Premiership Division 1
Final score: 42 - 17 (won)

West of Scotland 17 - 42 Glasgow Hawks: Hawks take revenge on West in rout Published Date: 13 December 2009 By Iain Morrison at Burnbrae HAWKS regained revenge for West's impertinence in winning at Old Anniesland earlier in the season by humiliating their hosts in the return fixture at fog-bound Burnbrae yesterday afternoon. The match was close until half time, at least on the score board, but it finished with Hawks bossing every aspect of play and running in five tries in total. The best and the worst of Scottish club rugby was on view here. Two teams played with pasADVERTISEMENT sion and ambition but the poor levels of basic skills in admittedly difficult conditions meant that too little of the enterprise on show was rewarded on the score board. The ball was dropped, passes went anywhere and overlaps were butchered through a simple inability to draw a defender and make the offload. Hawks improved markedly in the second half but they could hardly get much worse. It was probably just as well for the home support that the guests were less than ruthless in the first 40 or they might have run up a cricket score. Hawks' young flyhalf Duncan Weir took full advantage of his forwards' hard work, finishing the afternoon with 22 points to his credit including seven successful kicks at goal and an opportunistic try. He will be an even better player when he learns not to pick stupid fights with the opposition second row. The home side got off to a flyer with the first try coming after just 80 seconds, long before the corporate guests had taken their seats. Hawks regular scrumhalf Peter Jericevich was on sevens duty in South Africa so Craig Gossman was pressed into emergency duty. His first pass was poor, West pounced and from the resulting five-yard scrum, fullback Michael Sim barreled his way through some non-existent tackles. That was the shock to the system that Hawks needed and their big men dominated possession and territory pretty much from that moment on, with Rory McKay and Mat Whittleston doing the bulk of the heavy lifting. The latter grabbed his side's first try after a long series of attacks had stretched the home defenders. With the addition of two penalties and a conversion from the boot of Weir, Hawks were tightening their grip on proceedings and looking comfortable. So it was against the run of play when West's flanker David Young emerged from a rolling maul to sprint 20 yards to the Hawks line on the half-hour mark, taking the covering winger Jono Wright over the line with him. As a result Hawks nursed a narrow one-point advantage at the break and only in the second half did they make their dominance count with another four tries. Replacement breakaway Grant Strang claimed his side's second try from short range, but only after the referee had denied an earlier effort, and then hooker Eric Milligan was the last man up after Hawks forwards drove a maul over the West line. Gossman then showed good pace to spring over from 20 yards out and Weir took advantage of a charge down to grab Hawks fifth and final touchdown. What had started out as a keenly contested derby had morphed into a rout. The match finished with West on the attack in search of a consolation score and they eventually got it through lock Robert Harley. West of Scotland: M Sim, A Park, R Dalgliesh, J Kerr, G Dempsey; C Thwaites, M McConnell; E McLaren, G Bulloch, C Johnston, G Perrett, R Harley, J Walker, D Young, G Fisken. Glasgow Hawks: A White, I Boyer, I Noble, G Harkness, J Wright; D Weir, C Gossman; G Strain, E Milligan, G Hunter, N Campbell, M Whittleston, G Francis, G Oommen, R McKay. Scorers: West of Scotland – Try: Sim, Young, Harley. Conv: Sim. Glasgow Hawks – Try: Whittleston, Strang, Milligan, Gossman, Weir. Conv: Weir (4). Pen: Weir (3). Referee: D Jack (Madras Team list for this match Grant Strang

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