It was third time lucky for Hawks as they opened their account with an emphatic win against League leaders Gala at Old Anniesland. However, you didn’t have to be a keen observer that there was very little luck in the way the homes side demolished the visitors.

The game started cagily and Ruairi Howarth missed a straightforward chance to put Gala ahead early on. Instead it fell to Gregor Hunter to put the home side in the lead, but the match was approaching the end of the first quarter. (3-0)

Gala opened the try scoring five minutes later. Hawks had conceded a penalty at the scrum and gala kicked to toach. The resultant lineout saw Gala drive the ball towards the Hawks line before prop Luke Pettie went over for to give Gala the lead, Howarth added the extras and the hosts were behind. (3-7)

It didn’t take hawks long to turn events around and when they did it came through a rapid pair of tries. The first came from Paddy Boyer who had an inspirational match at scrum-half. A Hawks lineout was mauled towards the visitor’s’ line and gala committed most of their defence to halting the Maul. The ball came back to Boyer who darted sharply down the blindside and run round for the try which Hunter converted. (10-7)

The home support didn’t have time to draw breath before a tremendous break from Robert Beattie following an adroit offload by jack Steele saw the winger run 40 metres before rounding under the posts for the second Hawks’ try, again hunter added the points and there was now a 10 point lead. (17-7)

The second half started with Gala showing a bit more intensity which was rewarded in 46 minutes with a Howarth penalty. (17-10)
But the game opened up in Hawks favour as Boyer took a quick tap penalty in his own half running well into the Gala half. A quickly recycled ball saw it passed wide where Robert Beattie was waiting once more on the wing and he went over for his second. Hunter had an oh so rare miss. (29-10).

On the hour mark Hawks secured the try Bonus when they were awarded a penalty try when Gala stopped Hawks going over with a pushover try. (29 -10)

Gala hadn’t given up the fight and went over from close range for hooker Mattie Carrier went over from close range in 69 minutes, but this served to highlight the difficulty they were having releasing their backs. Howarth converted and Gala were within 12 points with 11 minutes to go. (29-17)

The closing stages were breath-taking in 73 minutes, evergreen Ally Maclay, showed a tremendous turn of pace to finish of a back move with great support play and with Hunter converting Hawks had killed the match. (36-17)

Even so, Gala weren’t finished when Carrier took his second in added time. (36-24)

The final score fell to hawks as Tome Steven went over for a try with pace and power and sealed an emphatic win. (43-24)