Hawks coach remains philosophical after Scottish Cup defeat
MUSSELBURGH booked their place in the first-round proper of the Scottish Cup with a convincing 27-17 victory over Glasgow Hawks at Stoneyhill, in one of six preliminary round matches played on Saturday. The result will act as a valuable confidence boost to the East Lothian side, who will kick-off their first campaign playing in the top flight of Scottish club rugby in 33 years when they host Hawick in the first round of Premiership matches next week.
This is not a disastrous result for Hawks. There was bound to be some early-season rust, especially for a team having to adapt to several key departures over the summer to either Super6 or retirement, and their big focus this year will be on the league. It will, however, focus minds at Balgray on the size of the challenge they face to remain relevant as a leading light in Scottish club rugby.
“We looked to try to play too much in our own half and put ourselves under pressure,” lamented Hawks head coach
Andy Hill. “We turned the ball over, Musselburgh kept quite well, went through phases and eventually broke us down.”
The home side took an early lead through winger Tom Foley, that score was cancelled out by Hawks’ veteran prop Gary Strain, but the visitors then shot themselves in the foot when Chris McCarron was sent to the sin-bin for tackling Danny Owenson in the air.
Musselburgh pressed hard to take advantage, with Foley and full-back Freddie Roddick both going close, but Hawks managed to successfully scramble on both occasions. Eventually, the pressure paid off when teenage stand-off Paul Cunningham sent James Ferguson in with a welljudged cross-field kick. Owenson added the touchline conversion and slotted a penalty to establish a 15-5 ahead at the turnaround.
Rory Watt extended Musselburgh’s lead at the start of the second-half, Craig Shields responded for Hawks, before Roddick settled things decisively in the hosts’ favour with their fourth try of the afternoon. Ryan Sweeney’s grabbed a late consolation score but there could be no complaints about the final result.
“I think what we did was put together a good team performance, our forwards really fronted up against a strong, physical side in Hawks,” said Musselburgh head coach Graeme Paterson. “We knew that was going to be one of the key elements coming up to this level. Our guys set that platform pretty well up front and I thought the backs were very, very accurate.”
Meanwhile, Hawick muscled their way to a 19-3 win over Border rivals Melrose at Mansfield Park. Pack power was the key with flanker Stuart Graham, hooker Matt Carryer, loose-head prop Shawn Muir all crossing the whitewash, while Ali Weir added two conversions. The beaten team’s points came from a successful first half penalty from skipper David Colvine.
Despite the victory, Hawick head coach George Graham was not a happy bunny. “It was a poor game and I’m bitterly disappointed that we made so many unforced errors,” he said. “Our discipline was terrible at times with silly penalties given away. We played a little bit better in the second half. It will evolve and we’ll get better and we’ll get a lot more competitive. It doesn’t matter what Melrose team you’re facing there always going to be combative – and given the average age of these boys they were actually pretty good,” the former Scotland prop added.
Melrose have been one of the leading lights of club rugby in recent years, but the vast majority of their squad from last season have now moved on to their Southern Knights Super6 franchise, meaning the remaining ‘Club XV’ is made up predominantly from promising youngsters with a sprinkling of grizzled veterans – which helps explain why Stuart Johnson, their head coach, was fairly encouraged by what he had witnessed in this game.
“Both individually and collectively we got the performances we were looking for,” he said. “We were up against a powerful Hawick side and we ran them close. Some of the defensive sets we put together were great. The score-line didn’t reflect the game. We had a try disallowed and that was a massive turning point.”
Watsonians – who have also taken on a Super6 franchise – are in a similar position to Melrose, although they appear not to have the same strength in depth, having been thumped 32-3 on the road to Highland in their preliminary round. Ayr edged past Dundee HSFP 17-18 at Mayfield, Currie Chieftains defeated Biggar 29-24 at Malleny Park, and Marr got the better of Aberdeen Grammar 15-32 at Rubislaw.
David Barnes