Hawks travelled down the Clyde to Greenock on Saturday to play in a match to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the founding of Greenock Wanderers RFC.
Their select was an interesting mix of battle hardened warriors and a callow group of youngster at the start of their senior rugby careers.
In the mature group there were three players who had played in the District Championship at the end of last season, namely, hooker Paul Cairncross, centre James Pinkerton and stand off Liam Brims. Despite the loss of a considerable number of young players at the end of last season there were no fewer than 6 teenagers in the squad, some straight from school and some who have been with the club for a year or two.
Nine in total wearing the Hawks strip for the first time.
With so many new faces it would be interesting to see how long it would take the side to blend into a cohesive unit.
On the sideline there were new faces within the coaching team namely Alex Afuakwah, who has taken over the role from his father Chas.
Fort Matilda is always a welcoming place to visit and today was no exception. The afternoon commenced with the raising of the new 150th flag, sadly in torrential rain, followed by lunch for 110 in their excellent clubhouse. The speakers were the President of the SRU and former President, Eddie Crozier.
By kick off time at 3pm the gods began to smile on Fort Matilda, the sun came out, the ground, which looked in immaculate condition, dried out thanks to a stiff wind but which made handling difficult at times and an entertaining game absorbed the significant sized crowd.
From the look of the scoreline it looked an easy win for Hawks but this was not the case.
Hawks started at a cracking pace and pinned Wanderers back deep into their 22. 3 penalty awards against them in a row finally ended with slick handling before left winger, Ross Darroch scored out wide. This was ironic as he is a Greenock boy and played junior rugby at the Club.
Hawks continued this assault but stout defending and sloppy handling stalled any further scoring.
Despite being behind, Wanderers started to get a supply of the ball forcing Hawks back into their own territory where they continued to concede penalties. Eventually the defensive dam burst and scrum half, Andrew McDougall nipped over for a try close to the posts. Martyn Knapton made no mistake with the conversion and Wanderers were in the lead 7-5
15 minutes played all at a frantic pace.
The next 20 minutes were lass exciting, Hawks were having difficulties in holding on to possession and Wanderers were up against a solid defence.
Part of the problem was caused by the new tackle law with numerous penalties being awarded against players who tackled against the ball that was being held high against the chest of the opponent.
It will take some time for players to learn that this is now illegal.
With 5 minutes to go until half time the game burst into life from a Hawks perspective. From a position close to the Wanders line Hawks were awarded 3 penalties in a row, from the last of these the ball was swung wide and right wing, Ben Morris, touched down in the corner.
This sparked Hawks into real life and, on the stroke of half time, a successful back line move resulted in hooker, Paul Cairncross scoring. This time Liam Brimms conversion was successful and Hawks were in the lead by 7-17 when the half time whistle blew.

The second half was far less exciting as each side cancelled the other out, not helped by the high penalty count. Both sides had opportunities but failed to take them.
It took until the 65th minute before anything happened of note.
On that timing Wanderers put together their best period of sustained play and gave Hawks an almighty fright.
3 penalties in a row started the move when slick passing across the back division resulted in right wing, replacement Scott Galbraith, diving over in the corner for an unconverted try. No conversion but Wanderers were only 5 points behind at 12-17.
Hawks were stung by this and shortly after the restart centre Wayne Burrows launched an almighty kick deep into the Wanderers 22 close to the line. Sadly for Wanderers the fullback and winger guddled it and replacement Joe Ross picked it up and scored. Liam Brimms completed the scoring with a well judged conversion.
Wanderers coach, Robert Mitchell, said ‘that he was not too unhappy with the result as he felt that his team had performed well in the circumstances of a tricky swirling wind and the high tackle penalty. We are still building for the future with a number of young players from last years 18 team’

Alex Afuakwah, Hawks coach said ‘ I am reasonably satisfied with the performance as it was a scratch side who had not played together in a match situation before so it is difficult to judge from that performance.

The comment from the touchline pundits was that neither side had used the wind to any real effect trying to run the ball out of defence only to lose valuable possession.

Hawks recognise the contribution that former Wanderers players have made to their success over the years and therefore were honoured to be asked to celebrate their big day.
The great former Herald reporter, John Downie, in days long past, reporting on a match from Fort Matilda, took 4 long paragraphs to describe the view from the ground of the ships passing up and down the river, the scenic views across to Craigendoran, Helensburgh and all the way to Ben Lomond before finally saying
‘and, there was a game of rugby’.
Today there was certainly a game of rugby appreciated by those present
Despite the direness of the weather forecast and the rumour of sightings of Noah’s Arc sailing down the Clyde, the weather proved to be better than expected and, an entertaining game of amateur rugby took place in front of a reasonable sized crowd. This proves that Club Rugby is still an attraction in this part of the world.

Many thanks to the Wanderers players for a game played in the right spirit, the referee Gordon Reid and his assistants Barry Dyer and Stacey Donaldson and to the Club for their hospitality.
We wish you all success in National 4 this season.

Match details

Match date

Sat 19 Aug 2023

Kickoff

15:00

Location

Fort Matilda

Team overview