Disappointing sign off for a popular coach

Melrose 14 Glasgow Hawks 13

“So Long Farewell”
By Rodgers and Hammerstein

“So long, farewell
Auf Wiedersehen, adieu”

“Adieu, adieu
To you and you and you”

‘Tis the season of joy to all, a season of trees and holly, getting and giving, wrapping and ribbon whilst watching old time classic movies on TV. But in each household across the land the Christmas Radio Times is consulted, favourites are chosen and bickering begins over what to watch starts.

So it was at the Greenyards, the clubhouse was decked out for Xmas and Hawks visit saw some extended bickering with Melrose in the BT Premiership.

The match was preceded by a minute’s reflection on the life of the great Scottish rugby scribe Norman Mair who had briefly turned out for then coached Melrose whilst teaching at St Mary’s School in the town.

Then thoughts returned to the match in hand for Hawks a win was important not only to build on the victories over Heriots and Gala but also to give a winning send off to Jamie Dempsey as he left to pursue his new career helping to develop new generations of players. The match marked an fond adieu to the well liked and charismatic coach.

The determination of the players was clear from early on and Rose conceded a penalty in 3 minutes which was uncharacteristically missed. Indeed the Hawks ferocity in attack and defence seemed reflected the ferocity of the cold wind which was cutting across the pitch. There was almost a sigh of relief from the home support as Melrose managed to drive themselves into the visitor’s 22 with a lineout but Hawks defence held. Almost inevitably the Glasgow men began to concede a series of penalties and David Milne was eventually punished for the sins of the team with a yellow card from Irish whistler, Daniel Shaw who was to assume the role of “The Grinch” for Hawks, before the match ended.

Melrose then had a number of scrums under the visitors’ posts which gave them the platform to secure some quick ball which went wide to Fijian winger Tito Mua who went over in the right corner. With the extras missed from the touchline, Melrose had capitalised on the man advantage.

Hawks were undeterred by the loss of Milne as they took the game to their hosts. Within 5 minutes of going behind the Glasgow men were awarded a penalty just inside the Melrose 10 metre line. Scrum-half, Paddy Boyer took a quick tap and completely wrong footed the Melrose defence as he darted towards the Melrose goal. Eluding the Rose defence he chipped a deft little kick from just inside the 22, releasing Paul Ramsay and George Horne who chased the ball down as it went over the goal line with Horne taking the honours with the touchdown. The extras added Hawks had seized the lead with a man disadvantage.

After Milne returned to the play and numbers had been restored Hawks were quickly penalised again when prop Steven Findlay received the second yellow card of the afternoon. It was quite controversial and represented, for Hawks, a negative intervention by the referee. The whole area of the front row seemed to flummox the Irishman as he effectively de-powered the visitors scrum. Nicky Little and Ewan McQuillan for Melrose seemed to have the upper hand in guiding the referee’s actions.

Rose took advantage of this with a penalty from Joe Helps in 34 minutes. But the remaining 7 Hawks pack still put were able to put pressure on the home pack. With Melrose happy to clear their lines on the stroke of half-time.

As the second half began numbers had been restored but both sides effort seemed to cancel each other out. In 56 minutes Hawks seemed to have scored a second try as the ever alert Boyer appeared to touchdown having beaten the Fijian, Mua. It seemed that as Boyer was going for the ball he was impeded without the ball and it wasn’t clear if he had touched down or knocked on. If it was the latter then the referee should have awarded a penalty try instead he awarded the drop out 22.

It wasn’t possible to see the affect that this would have later in the half but the referee was obviously having an unwarranted impact on the match.

Jack Steele pulled Hawks ahead by 2 points just before the hour mark and Hawks held the edge until, yet again referee Shaw intervened, controversially, by issuing a third yellow card to Hawks as this time Paul Ramsay was flashed the card. It was alleged that the winger had swung a kick at a prone player but to most in the press box the contact appeared accidental.

The poor performance of the referee was then highlighted when Boyer to take a tap penalty just inside Melrose half but was deliberately impeded allowing the home side to scramble back. Whilst he was awarded a second penalty again the referee seemed to shirk from a difficult decision.

Hawks defence had been remarked on by Melrose coach John Dalziel before the match and it had been put under test. It was not only effective but was smart as well. At one stage centre Brendan McGroarty faced a 4 on 1 overlap and in a tremendous piece of heads up defence. As he followed the ball from player to player he closed off the space and throttled the move. Eventually Rose exploited the man advantage and Helps helped himself to a further penalty giving the home team a one point lead with 10 minutes to go.

The match remained tight and Hawks hopes rose with 6 minutes left as they edged ahead again by 2 points as Steele slotted over another penalty.

Unfortunately, it fell to Melrose to the choose the Christmas movie as an 80th minute helps penalty saw Melrose make “The Great Escape” leaving Hawks with the narrowest loss possible and not hearing “The Sound of Music”

It was a sad and undoubtedly unsatisfactory farewell for Jamie and the players, but that said it has been a great privilege over the last few seasons to watch the sides he has worked with and everyone wishes him all the best in the New Year.