TWO teams with a world of trouble heaped on their shoulders going into this weekend’s round of BT Premiership matches produced inspired performances against two of the top sides in the league and seemed to have secured a couple of famous victories – only to both lose out to devastating late scores.
Watsonians who had been dragged into the relegation mire by a 55-17 humbling at the hands of Boroughmuir last week, and they looked dead and buried when they trailed 7-28 after 40 minutes against Glasgow Hawks at Myreside on Saturday – but they mounted a stirring second half fight-back, with number eight Rory Drummond leading the charge, and eventually took a slender 36-35 lead when Ewan Scott’s perfectly weighted chip ahead was latched onto and touched down over the line by Euan McKirdy with less than four minutes to go.
But Hawks managed to squeeze a late penalty opportunity out of the short time which remained in the match, and 19-year-old Jordan Henderson showed nerves of steel when he stepped forward and rifled home the three points from just inside the touchline – prompting a full bench clearance by the visitors in celebration, which gives an indication of how hard-fought this win really was.
Hawks’ joy was undoubtedly enhanced by the fact that they had played 67 minutes with a man less after Glasgow Warriors professional Junior Bulumakau was red-carded for throwing a punch. That was just one contentious incident in a match littered with controversial refereeing decisions which left both sets of coaches frustrated.
“It was a great second half. We started looking like a rugby team again. The first half was just very poor – no enthusiasm in defence. In the second half we had the ball most of the time, which suits us better, and there was lots of tempo. Momentum is amazing in sport and all of a sudden it was Hawks looking around thinking ‘what should we do’. But the ref gave them a little leg up and they managed to get the win. To lose it like that is pretty tough,” concluded Watsonians assistant coach Simon Taylor.
Hawks’ head honcho Finlay Gillies was rather more forthright.
“I didn’t see it but I’ve asked Junior and he says he didn’t punch – I can trust my player. That’s two times Keith Allen has refereed us and its two red cards [the one picked up by Brendan McGroarty against Ayr was later rescinded]. I think there was a red card [against Watsonians] for a dump tackle on Jack Steele – two players lifted his legs and he landed on his head – the touch-judge went to call something, but didn’t. He did the same for a forward pass,” he said.
“You can’t be in a professional league like this and touch judges aren’t brave enough to make a call like that.”
“I don’t think he was good either way. If somebody was on the ball he would ping [penalise] them, then the next time he would make an inconsistent decision the wrong way, so it was really difficult for the players. I don’t think he’ll be happy with his performance.”
Gillies was certainly happy with his own team’s performance, although he readily conceded that it was not a classic Glasgow Hawks display.
“It was more about our courage than our rugby. Even the 28 points we scored in the first half came from gnarly rugby rather than the free-flowing Hawks you have seen up to now. We came here looking to fight fire with fire through our big pack, and the first half they didn’t have an answer to us, but the second half was a different story,” he said.
“We knew it wasn’t over [at half-time]. We said that we were going to have to weather a storm – but it’s just so hard with 14 players. I don’t often feel brimming with pride at what the players have achieved but I am today, given what they managed to do against all the odds,” he added.
Watsonians are still on a four match losing streak, but the two bonus points they picked up here took them ahead of Stirling County into sixth place in the table, and if they start next Saturday’s game against Currie in the same impassioned frame of mind as they mustered for the second half of this game, then they will give Ben Cairns’ men a real run for their money.
Hawick, in contrast, have had some fairly positive results recently, including a 15-15 draw with last season’s champions Heriot’s last week and a 31-36 away win over Watsonians in the match before that – but they were left high and dry this weekend by the decision of eight players to disappear to Barbados on a stag party, leaving a very youthful backline facing the daunting task of taking on Ayr at Millbrae.
Against the odds, the youngsters stepped up to the plate and led 37-41 as the game edged into injury time, only for Archie Russell to grab a late winner for the hosts. Hawick head coach Nikki Walker has a big decision to make next week as to whether he allows the missing revellers to waltz straight back into the team for their crucial clash against Boroughmuir at Meggetland.
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