Glasgow Hawks 5
Currie Chieftains 45
SEAN BLACK @ Balgray
CURRIE stated their early season title credentials with a convincing win over Hawks at a sunny Balgray. Despite a tight opening 20 minutes, the visitors pulled away from their hosts with a strong showing before and after half-time to leave Glasgow with all five-points, while the hosts were left to rue individual errors and the inability to take their chances when they came along.
For Ben Cairns, in charge of Currie on the day, this was the perfect outing to start the campaign. “You put all the work in pre-season so that you’re good to go at the start of the season and you never know quite where you’re at until you play that first game,” he reflected.
“So, it’s great to see us put in that kind of performance and get that kind of scoreline away from home in the first game.”


For a team renowned for their back play and their desire to utilise the wide spaces, it was the strong outing for the forwards which won this battle and Cairns was quick to praise their efforts.
“We just spoke to them after the full-time whistle about the fact that the consistency of the pack today meant that we didn’t see anyone stand out, they just all played really well together as a cohesive unit and that’s probably the most pleasing part,” he said.
The visitors got off to the perfect start when they scored the opening try inside the first 30 seconds. Left wingerMason Cullen gathered the Currie kick-off, and the ball was moved quickly from left to right. Ed Hasdell, as he did all day, broke through the first tackle and was able to offload to the waiting Fraser Sayers who raced over in the right corner. Alex Harley knocked over the conversion.
Hawks recovered well and had several chances to score but were unable to convert the opportunities when they came their way. Twice in the first 10 minutes they found themselves deep in the Currie 22, and twice they came away empty handed. That wastefulness was to be their ultimate undoing.
Most of the next 20 minutes was end-to-end, with both teams fronting up defensively, but guilty of wasting the chances they did have. For Hawks, Craig Nolan was aggressive with his carrying when called upon, while Max Crumlish got through a huge amount of work in both attack and defence.
As the game wore on, the physicality of Currie, particularly around the breakdown, began to separate the two teams. Their second try came after a counter-ruck on the Hawks 22. Great work from Hasdell and Sam Cardosi saw the ball first moved to the right wing and when it came back to the left, Scott Robeson spotted a huge gap in the Hawks defence to slide through and score.
Hawks continued to look lively, with the dynamic back-three of James Couper, Logan Jarvie and Euan Muirhead making plenty of half-breaks, but all too often they were guilty of kicking the ball away or throwing a loose pass at inopportune moments.
The third and final try of the first half was scored by the tremendous Hasdell. After opting for a scrum in front of the Hawks posts, Currie ground their way to and evetually over the line. Amid confusion, the try was awarded after deliberation from the referee and his closest assistant. The conversion was good and Currie had established a healthy 19-0 lead at the break.
Currie started the second half much like the first, although it took them 90 seconds longer to score this time. A poor clearance from Hawks provided the visitors with an attacking line-out just inside the home team’s half. Sayers made the initial scything break, and Hawks were able to regroup to stop the attack. They felt forced to infringe on their own five-metre line and some quick thinking from Gregor Christie saw him take the quick tap and dive over for the fourth score. The conversion was good once again from Harley.
Christie quickly found himself on the naughty chair, though, for stopping a Glasgow break around half-way with a deliberate knock-down and receiving a yellow card for his actions. Hawks continued to probe the Currie line but to no avail with Robeson, Cardosi and Hasdell instrumental in a superb defensive effort.
The visitors survived their period of being a man down and scored their fifth try just after Christie returned. Hawks made easy metres when returning a loose clearance but as they tried to exploit an overlap on the right, Harley jumped out the line to intercept the ball and run it in from the halfway line, before converting his own try.
The continued dominance around the contact area was giving Currie ample attacking opportunities, and Sayers sparked the sixth try after a wonderful 50/22. Once again Currie worked their way to Hawks’ try-line, and once again the home side conceded a penalty. Quick thinking from replacement scrum-half Cameron Lessels saw him follow Christie’s lead with a quick tap and dive over the line in an almost identical location.
With their heads down and the game well out of reach, Hawks were reduced to 14 men when replacement Kyle Shanahan was sent to sin bin for repeated infringements inside the home 22, which was perhaps a long time coming. From the resulting line-out and maul, substitute hooker Ryan Stewart found himself with the ball over the line, much to the delight of his team-mates.
As the clock ticked down, Hawks threw caution to the wind and began to break the Currie line with ease, but much like the rest of the game, they could not convert. They eventually created a huge gap, with the outstanding James Pinkerton bursting through and finding debutant Rory Caldwell on his outside shoulder. Caldwell offloaded the ball back to Pinkerton and when the outside centre was dragged down short of the line, Caldwell was on hand to score the try that Hawks deserved on the day.
Hawks coach Phil Smith was upbeat despite the result. “They’re good, so fair play, and that’s fine,” he said. “If we can go back and make it a little bit better, these little areas, and be more positive with the stuff we did well, then we’ll apply pressure. Today, we didn’t apply pressure.”
“In general, our set-piece functioned well, and our attack was mostly good. Maybe not as threatening as Currie because of their speed of ball compared to ours, but there was enough stuff there to think: ‘Okay, against a team that’s not as good as Currie, maybe we’ll get a bit more success’.”
 
Teams –
Glasgow Hawks: E Muirhead; J Couper, J Pinkerton, G Cruickshank, L Jarvie; D McCartney, G Johnston; D Cruickshank, D Casserly, J Campbell; A Orr, M Crumlish, A Rutherford, Y Shaheen, C Nolan. Subs used: T McTier, K Shanahan, A Young, F Thorburn, R Caldwell, F Thomson, J Hastings.
Currie Chieftains: F Sayers; R Daley, D Innes, S Robeson, M Cullen; A Harley, G Christie; J Ramsay, R Vucago, G Scougall; J Fisher, A Hoggarth, R Davies, S Cardosi, E Hasdell. Subs used: R Stewart, N Thompson, M Scarth, K Borthwick, C Ramsay, C Lessels, C Gettinby.
Referee: Dan Evans
 
Scorers –
Glasgow Hawks: Tries: R Caldwell.
Currie Chieftains: Tries: F Sayers, S Robeson, E Hasdell, G Christie, A Harley, C Lessels, R Stewart. Con: A Harley 5
Scoring sequence (Glasgow Hawks first): 0-5; 0-7; 0-12; 0-17; 0-19 (h-t) 0-24; 0-26; 0-31; 0-33; 0-38; 0-40; 0-45; 5-45 
 
Yellow cards –
Glasgow Hawks: K Shanahan (72 mins)
Currie Chieftains: G Christie (44 mins)