Glasgow Hawks 19
Watsonians 36
DAVID BARNES @ Balgray
THIS was one that got away for Glasgow Hawks, who spent over 30 minutes straight after half-time camped near their opponents’ line, to eventually pull the 14-point deficit at the break back to just seven points with all the momentum at their backs, but they then fumbled the restart and Watsonians killed them off with ruthless efficiency.
The visitors, meanwhile, will draw confidence from holding out during that period on the ropes. They are a young team containing a number of recent school-leavers and very much a work in progress, but they showed both resilience and ruthlessness here when it really mattered, which are two key foundations for any successful team.
“In the first half we established a reasonable platform, and then we have gone into the second half and stopped playing,” said Davey Wilson, the happy but not completely satisfied Watsonians head coach. “We probably did 31 minutes  defending and basically not touching the ball, so that’s a frustration, because I’m delighted with the defence, but the reality is that we need to find a way into the game … to get the ball, to keep the ball, and to be playing.


“I don’t think we’re too respectful of the ball at times, and that’s where we need to be better. I’ve been bashing that door in with these guys for the last few weeks. But I’ve also got to be cognisant of the fact that I’ve got a lot of guys there that have not played at this level before, and they’re adjusting to the lack of time they have and the pressure they are put under as the come into adult life.
“We’ve got Angus Robson at stand-off, who is just out of school, we’ve got Rowan Walsh on the bench and is just coming out of school, and then we’ve got Bruce Weatherhead at full-back, who is only 19 or 20. So we’ve got guys here that are just learning on the job, and I would prefer for us to be having a bit more of the ball because as we saw there, once we get that momentum,we can do something with it.”
 
“I said to the guys afterwards that we’re going to have to go two, three, four gears up from today ahead of next week against a Currie side who are playing pretty well and confident with the ball.
After a lively start which featured some determined carrying and big hits from both sides, Watsonians drew first blood when hooker Matt Pritchard grounded the ball off the back of a well-worked line-out maul, and the visitors doubled their advantage when Lomond Macpherson broke back into Hawks’ half straight from kick-off in a passage of play which eventually led to Angus Robson collecting his own grubber to touch down to the right of the posts, setting up a simple second successful conversion for Bruce Weatherhead.
Hawks bounced right back when winger Rory Caldwell – who had already flashed his teeth with a powerful break through the middle during the early exchanges – rose majestically to collect the restart and charge home unchallenged. Gav Cruickshank couldn’t add the conversion meaning the gap on the scoreboard was nine points with just under half an hour played.
That visiting lead stretched back out to 16 points when James Couper guddled the kick-off to hand Watsonians an attacking scrum on the left, which provided the platform for Gus Godwin to crash over on the right, for a try which was not converted this time, only for Hawks to hit back when Gav Cruickshank prodded a high-tackle penalty into the corner, Tom McTier did well to tidy up the scrappy line-out possession, and Yousuf Shaheenscrambled over.
It was Watsonians, however, who had the last say of the half when slick hands, including a lovely pass out of the tackle by Godwin, sent Max Garry over on the left, securing the bonus-point for his team, with Weatherhead adding the touchline conversion for good measure.
Watsonians were well worth their 26-12 lead at the break, having played smart and accurate rugby in the right areas of the park, but they couldn’t get back on the front foot after the team re-emerged from their changing rooms for the second 40.
With the fairly strong wind at their backs, and Brandon Sweet off the bench for his first appearance of the league season to power-up the scrum, Hawks dominated from the off. They were held up over the line once, and spent pretty much all of the next half hour camped in Watsonians’ half, mostly in their 22, but couldn’t quite find the clinical finish they needed until the game was well into its final quarter, when Shaheen took a quick tap-penalty and Andrew Rutherford finished the surge off.
As Hawks continued to crank up the pressure, Watsonians conceded an ever-growing number of penalties close to their own line, and it felt like a matter of ‘when’ not ‘if’ the game-levelling try was going to be scored – but referee Michael Todd resisted the urge to go to his pocket for a card and/or award a penalty try, and Euan Muirhead slapping the ball forward after being teed-up for a big hit by David McCartney’s long, telegraphed miss-pass summed up the home team’s lack of composure in the strike zone.
Then Watsonians finally got the once chance they needed to deliver a killer blow, picking up a an offside penalty in the middle of the park on their first visit to the Hawks half since the break, which Robson fired through the sticks to make it a two-score game.
And then came the final flourish from Watsonians, who produced was a lovely passage of play featuring some sublime offloading out of contact, which eventually led to Garry scooting over for his second try of the contest.
“How do you lose that?” Phil Smith, the exasperated Hawks head coach asked himself afterwards. “Second half, you get yourself within a score and we’ve still got maybe 25 minutes to go, roughly speaking, You have about 90 percent territory and we just … I don’t know … I think there was some poor decisions at key moments.
“From a line-out drive, we probable should get a penalty try because our maul is s running over the line then falls over, so hat’s a penalty try to then but it isn’t given, and then for the next phase we decide to have a scrum, and I’m thinking: ‘We’ve just taken a line-out all the way to the line so why aren’t we trying to repeat that?
“We repeatedly didn’t score when we had all this pressure and all this opportunity, so we didn’t get anything out of that in terms of bonus-points, and that’s hard to take because you’re genuinely thinking you’ve got a chance to win. That’s the toughest one yet – forget the first two games [when Hawks suffered heavy defeats to Currie Chieftains and Melrose] – we’re really frustrated by this one.”
 
Teams –
Glasgow Hawks: E Muirhead; J Couper, M Waugh, J Pinkerton, R Caldwell (R Flett 41); G Cruickshank (D McCartney 57), G Johnstone (C Louden 78); D Cruickshank (B Sweet 41), T McTier (P Cairncross 78), J Campbell, A Orr, M Crumlish, A Rutherford (A Syme 78), Y Shaheen (A Young 71), C Nolan.
Watsonians: B Weatherhead (A Robson  68); M Garry, G Godwin, R Kerr, L Macpherson (J Mitchell 30); A Robson (H Seggie 59), B Young (M Scott 68); D Voas, M Pritchard (B Cooper 65), A Kotze (E Stewart 76), K Watt (R Walsh 73), A Mataitini (J Roberts 67), F Mather, T Wilson, S Allison. 
Referee: Michael Todd
 
Scorers –
Glasgow Hawks: Tries: Caldwell, Shaheen, Rutherford; Con: Cruickshank, McCartney.
Watsonians: Tries: Pritchard, Robson, Godwin, Garry 2; Cons: Weatherhead 3, Robson; Pen: Robson.
Scoring sequence (Glasgow Hawks): 0-5; 0-7; 0-12; 0-14; 5-14 5-19; 10-19; 12-19; 12-24; 12-26 (h-) 17-26; 19-26; 19-29; 19-34; 19-36.
 
Player-of-the-Match: Max Garry was razor sharp for his two tries, but Gus Godwin’s lovely handling and reliability in the middle of the park earns him the nod.
Talking point: Paul Cairncross came out of retirement to sit on the bench after Hawks were left short of frontline hooker options by Edinburgh Rugby calling up Dan Casserly to sit on the bench for their ‘A’ team which lost 45-17 at Ealing Trailfinders this afternoon. It is a great opportunity for the youngster, but highlights again the lack of empathy the pro tier has for the Premiership.