Date: Saturday, 23rd December 2006
Kickoff time: 15:00
Against: Ayr
Team: Hawks 1st XV
Location: Home
Competition: Premiership Division 1
Final score: 11 - 8 (won)

Adamson shows Hawks the score WE SHOULD have known. Glasgow Hawks were never going to surrender their Premiership title tamely and, having opened the race up by beating Currie last week, they duly closed it again when a rampant forward display particularly after the break added Ayr to the list of scalps and handed the crown on to their Edinburgh rivals. Afterwards David Wilson, the Hawks coach, was left to reflect on a league season where his team came good and wonder if this could provide the platform for a run to Murrayfield in the cup. If they are to do well, Hawks will have to be a lot more ruthless in taking chances, after sneaking a match they could have won by 20 clear points. continued... As for Ayr, it was a case of mixed emotions. Desperately disappointed to have flopped in the big game with a historic title in sight, they had also to reflect that in reality they would probably have accepted a top-three finish had it been offered at the start of the season. It was a day when nothing much went right for them, starting with Craig Redpath, the coach, dropping out with an infection that almost landed him in hospital five hours before the game. Jim Henderson, the second team coach, took over and praised the professionalism of his players but it must have had an unsettling effect. "We thought we were coming back into it just before half time," he said. "But in the second half we just never got going. We are an ambitious club and Craig (Redpath) is a fiercely ambitious coach so this hurts at the moment. We thought we could win the league and it is desperately disappointing to have failed, but it does represent progress." Whatever happens in the final week of the season in mid-January, this has been Ayr's best season and thoroughly deserved. In the end, they did not deserve to win the league, the efforts of the forwards over the season being squandered by back play that rarely looked like exploiting the gaps. But they have a pack to worry any and that could be the platform for greater things to come, even though it was up front that they struggled in this match. The game itself ran its course in three distinct phases. The Hawks bossed the first quarter, Ayr the second but the momentum swung decisively to the Glasgow side for the whole of the second half. The Hawks, however, made hard work of scoring, having at least two sniffs at the line before eventually Nick Cox, the prop, crashed on to the ball at full pace and bashed his way over the line for the first try but their inability to convert openings continued to haunt them. In contrast, Ayr were ruthless, particularly in the loose where Damien Kelly was doing his best impression of a run-away steam train. Nick Lavelle, the centre, knocked over an early penalty before his side went in front on the half hour when the pack piled upfield and released the ball to the right where Glen Tippet, the No 8, sucked in the remaining defence and sent Ryan Holland in for the unconverted try. How they stayed in front for as long as they did was a mystery. Jamie Kerr and Stuart Low both flapped at easy passes one yard from the Ayr line with no pressure and nobody to prevent them scoring, the forwards had half a dozen lineouts within ten yards of the visitors' line, they drove two mauls more than 25 yards, but handed the ball to Ayr every time. True, there was some good defence from Ayr, but in the main it was a case of the Glasgow side squandering their chances. The pressure on Ayr had to produce something, though it took a sin binning to start it - Ewan Logan the prop being given a rest as yet another Ayr player came in the side of a ruck. With more consistent pressure fly-half Mike Adamson, the replacement, kicked two penalties and Hawks were deservedly in front. It was a lead they held on to the end. Glasgow Hawks: R Kerr; S Low, J Kerr, R Munday, M Evans; M Strang, R McKnight; N Cox, J Maclay, G Mories, A Kelly, A Dale, S Warnock, J Fitzpatrick, G Francis. Subs used: M Smith, M Adamson, S Biggart, C Aghanya. Ayr: C Taylor; R Holland, B Colley, N Lavelle, P-L Gentile; R McCallum, AJ Macfarlane; J Kee, P MacArthur, E Logan, S Lines, D Kelly, E Kellow, P Burke, G Tippet. Subs used: S Adair, S Kerr, S Sutherland, S Henderson. Hawks eye up future SANDY STRANG AT ANNIESLAND DEPOSED champions Hawks refused to surrender their Premiership One title lightly. For the second successive week, the rejuvenated Old Anniesland men dealt a severe blow to the key league aspirants. Last week leaders Currie were derailed in the Malleny murk; this week second-placed Ayr were sent homeward to think again. "This season was always about development and rebuilding with a new set of players," said an exultant Hawks coach David Wilson, "but we've worked away quietly and in these last two victories against the first and second in the league we've amply demonstrated that we still have a lot to come." Ayr, minus the influential presence of coach Craig Redpath, laid low by a virus, were on the defensive from the off, and after three failed attacks, Hawks took the lead in seven minutes, prop Nick Cox bursting through right of the upright for a captain's try. Ayr's cause was further hampered by the loss of flying winger Pierluigi Gentile to a knee injury after only 15 minutes, Stuart Sutherland substituting. But the away support took some encouragement from a Nick Lavelle penalty which pegged the score back to 3-5. Their mood soon darkened again, though, as news filtered through that leaders Currie, starting an hour earlier, were prevailing 39-26 with the bonus point, making it a must-win situation for Ayr to keep their league hopes alive. Undaunted, the Ayr pack, driven on by locks Damien Kelly and captain Scott Lines, launched a sustained assault and were rewarded when No.8 Glenn Tippett fed winger Ryan Holland, who raced in to touch down in the right corner for an 8-5 half-time lead. Immediately after the restart, Hawks centre Jamie Kerr passed up the chance to grab back the lead, instituting a fine run on the right by Stuart Low, only to drop the returned pass. The first 20 minutes of the second half belonged to the home side as they wrestled back the initiative. It was only justice when substitute stand-off Mike Adamson, on for Murray Strang, levelled the scores at eight each with a straightforward 20-metre penalty after splendid work by winger Max Evans, eventual man of the match, before the Kerr brothers presented Adamson with an identical opportunity two minutes later to prise back the lead at 11-8 with just seven minutes remaining. Ayr threw everything at Hawks in a final despairing effort and home No.8 Sandy Warnock was sin-binned during the onslaught, but they could produce nothing further for their titanic efforts than their losing bonus point. All the celebrations were destined for Currie. Glasgow Hawks: R Kerr; S Low, J Kerr, R Munday, M Evans; M Strang (M Adamson, 52), R McKnight (S Biggart, 52); N Cox, J McLay (M Smith, 11-50), G Mories (C Aghanya, 55-70), A Dale, A Kelly, G Francis, J Fitzpatrick, S Warnock. Ayr: T Taylor; R Holland, B Colley, N Lavelle, P Gentile (S Henderson, 15); R McCallum, A J Macfarlane, J Kee (S Kerr, 30), P Macarthur, E Logan, S Lines, D Kelly, E Kellow (S Sutherland, 57), P Burke, G Tippett. Scorers: Hawks - Try: Cox. Pens: Adamson (2). Ayr - Try: Holland. Pen: Lavelle. Referee: A Macpherson (Stirling University) No team list has been added yet.

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