Sep
28
Boroughmuir Magic 2's v Glasgow Hawks 2's - 28th October
Meggetland on a Saturday afternoon is where i love to be. It is made even better when you have a quality squad to fill the famous navy blue and emerald green quartered strip!
The starting 15 came out the blocks full steam ahead with a strong breeze at their backs. Hawks catch the Rory Scott kick off and immediately get tackled into touch. Bullocking runs by Big Aubz and then Dan Coulter gained us yards and with 18yr old 'MJ' Michael Jamieson looking sharp at 13 we were eating up the ground.
Hawks defended the onslaught well, but bog Tam Gracie wanted a piece too and made another 10 m burst with another 18 yr old, Callum McDevitt on hand to secure ball. No score on this occasion and a counter by Hawks got them up to our 10m line but McDevitt was there to steal ball and Jack Hamilton, starting at 15, cleared to safety.
Our third 18 yr old, Felix Krause, then went on a rampaging run knocking older more experienced Hawks players to the side and from that a scrum ensued. Pick and pass from McDevitt to 18 yr old Innes in the centre, quick ball to Aubz and then the flight of foot Rory Scott danced through the defense from 22m out for the score. with a conversion too it was 7-0.
Hawks then pressured us after a poor take at the kick off. They played the conditions well keeping ball in hand and hitting hard running lines. Stu Clark had a great tackle on our 22m line and then we held the maul up to create the turnover. Hawks kept the pressure on though and after 5 or 6 rucks and a knock on over our line they took a quick tap, passed twice and popped over for the score. Conversion good and 7-7 it was.
Kick off was returned to us via some elusive running by the left winger, who had a cracking day for Hawks. However, MJ got ball, kicked on up field 20m, collected and the ball was cynically held by Hawks. Penalty by Scott follwoed by another one 3 minutes later took the half time score to 13-7 and a strong wind to deal with in the 2nd half.
The West coasters must have had some Buckfast in their water bottles as they came out all guns blazing. Pressure on the Muir men meant tackles tackle tackles which they made to great effect. Thus, eventually meant the Hawks 9 was pressurised into a turnover on our 5m line.
Ball was won at scrum time and then a bit of to-ing and fro-ing saw Hawks threw a loose pass which Hamilton now at his favoured postilion of 9 pounced on and ran in from our own 22m (he says 22m -it was really about half way). Scott conversion and 20-17 up. A knock on again at Kick off meant Hawks ball and they were not going to lie down.
A sneak round the fringe allowed them to come back to 20-12. Hawks had good pressure, but the Muir defence was strong, and they ran back to the opposition 22m with a Hamilton break, another 18 yr old Tom Barker was on hand to receive the pass only to be brought down by scramble defence.
The Hawks’ 8 was yellowed for cynical and persistent infringements and from the tap Grant Innes, yep you guessed it and other 18 yr old, hit a great line to burst through off a Rory Scott pass. Conv good and a 27-12 final score.
The coaches were happy as it was the 'cliched' team performance that won it even though it was a game of two halves. Lots of good points to take forward and a few bad ones to work on at training. Penalty count halved from last week meant less ball for the opposition.
Great performances from McDevitt again at 8, Aubrey at 6 and Tam Gracie in the front row. Young Michael Jamieson was on form in the midfield and Jack Hamilton showed he was hungry to impress.
However, the MOM was Rory Scott with some great touches on the ball, composure and leadership in both Defence and Attack and feet-work that Mohamed Ali would be proud of. Add that to a point’s tally of 17 points.
Ayr next week and a score to settle.....and a bus trip!!!
