Farrell drives Saracens to record-equalling victory
The Hawks pack got up a rare head of steam against Heriot’s on Saturday and paved the way for a victory which all but assures the Glasgow side of a place in the end-of-season play-offs, writes Matt Vallance.
Not even the loss to injury of skipper Tommy Spinks could derail the home forwards, who, although it took referee Graham Ormiston a long while to work out that Hawks were winning the scrum battle, were dominant in tight and loose.
Behind them, Hawks’ cutting edge has undoubtedly been blunted by George Horne and Bobby Beattie’s call-up to the national Sevens squad, but they still had Kerr Gossman, who, even strapped-up like an early Christmas present, is in the form of his life, as demonstrated by him bagging his 11th try of the season to open the scoring.
Heriot’s are some way off last season’s title-winning form and, although they led at the interval, this owed as much to Hawks’ first-half mistakes as to their own excellence.
When Hawks kept hold of possession, they were by far the superior side.
Gossman’s try, on the back of solid forward work through the phases was answered right on half-time by a similar score for Heriot’s Charlie Simpson.
All the other points came from the boot. For Hawks, Josh Henderson brilliantly converted the Gossman try and added a penalty but, with his kicking from hand lacking precision, he was benched at the interval, allowing Hagen Schulte, fit again after a string of injuries, to see Hawks over the line with three second-half penalties.
For Heriot’s, Alex Hagart kicked three penalties, while each side saw yellow, Steven Findlay the Hawks’ miscreant, Clarke Smith the Herioter on the naughty step.