Ayr 24 Glasgow Hawks 28

Ayr
Tries​Anderson 22, McConnell 25, Mutamangira 79
Con​Curle 22, 25, 79
Pen​62

Hawks
Tries​Gillies 42, Hamilton 58, McPherson 72
Con ​Lowe 58, 72
Pen​Steele 35, 40, Lowe 78
There will be raised eyebrows across Scotland today as Hawks knocked west coast rivals Ayr out at the quarter final stage of the Scottish Cup. For Hawks this is the furthest they have progressed in the Cup since it moved to the new format. In the past Ayr have represented a barrier to progress, however on this occasion the barrier was breached.
Early play had Hawks battering away at their rivals and the seemed to have Ayr rattled an early Lineout led to a rolling maul which Ayr just kept out but this pressure came to nought and Ayr forced themselves into the play. By 20 minutes it was 0-0 and both sides seemed to be struggling to overcome one another’s defensive strengths.
A sustained period of Ayr pressure had the “home” side camped on Hawks’ line and they put the ball wide after drawing much of the Hawks’ cover into the breakdown. . The ball spun wide and Grant Anderson entered the line with a reverse run and was over for Ayr’s opening try which Ross Curle converted.
Hawks and their vocal band of supporters who had ventured south of the Clyde had hardly had time to draw breath when Ayr were well into hawks 22 with a carry from Graham Fisken. A desperate tackle was not enough for the ball to be taken on by scrum-half Murray McConnell, who was over for the second try which again Curle converted. In the space of 3 minutes Hawks found themselves 14 points down. There was an expectation that Ayr would now just move onto the demolition phase.
Penalties from Jack Steele in 35 minutes and then on the stroke of half-time seemed only to make the scoreboard about more palatable at half-time as Hawks went in 14-6 down.
At half-time an Ayr supporter joked, “Oh well, it might be a game of two halves…”. Well the football cliché turned out to be rather prophetic as Hawks came out and through themselves aggressively into the play. Mateusz Bartoszek had come on at half-time and was aggressive at the breakdown. A minute into the half he seemed to have broken through but was pulled down short. Fin Gillies was in close support and went over from close to get the try. The conversion was missed but the cup tie was down to 3 points.
Both sides struggled to come to terms with the effect of the artificial surface on the bounce of the ball when kicking. In the first half as Hawks had the wind the kicked long a few times because the bounce took the ball a lot further. In the second half Curle struggled on a number of occasions. The difference was that Hawks were alive to Ayr’s failings.
Hawks came close again before the 50 minute mark after Kenny Beattie broke from inside his own 22, evading desperate Ayr tacklers before being hauled down in in the “home” 22. It gave Hawks a good territorial advantage. From the scrum, it looked like Ayr had cleared their lines but Colin Gregor gathered and ran back at them, when tackled Bartoszek was on hand to take the pass and then rumble through again, pulled down short, a quick pass from Patrick Boyer to Gus Hamilton, saw the big Melburnian show a quality and grace as he spun away from a tackle and twisted out of another to go over for the try with breath-taking style. As Gavin Lowe put over the extras Hawks were ahead for the first time in the match, 18-14, just before the hour mark.
Within 2 minutes Ayr had narrowed the gap to a single point as hawks infringed from the restart and the match was too close to call with less than 20 minutes to play. The tense match seemed to be on a knife edge as it entered the last 10 minutes. The ball came to Haddon McPherson just inside Ayr’s 40, the Hawks’ wing stepped inside evading a tackle, a short burst saw him in the 22 and he broke a second challenge. Moving forward and further towards the posts he ghosted through a third tackle as he went over for the try and gave Hawks an emphatic lead. Lowe had added the extras and with 8 minutes left Hawks were 8 minutes ahead.
The win seems to have been secured when Lowe put a penalty over in 78 minutes but Ayr had one last burst left.
The win seemed secured as Ayr pushed forward and wen the ball came to Zimbabwean prop Denford Mutamangira took the ball about 15 metres out before going over in 79 minutes with a barely a defender touching him. Curle again kicked the add-ons and It was now a 4 point game.
Any hope that Ayr had was extinguished as Hawks finished the match on the front foot in Ayr’s 22 and Looked to add to their advantage. A cup upset to some but a well deserved win to anyone watching.

This article was posted on 22-Feb-2014, 15:44 by Hugh Barrow.