Wanderers' self-belief merely delays inevitable

It may be ironic that Bill McLaren's beloved Hawick Balls are now made in Greenock in a place called Fort Matilda - the name of Greenock's ground - of all things, but Hawick got anything but a sweet reception as a fine and fiery local outfit, with a spectacular David McVey at the lead, found their efforts unfairly represented in the final scoreline.

"I told the players before the game that Hawick is just a name", said McVey afterwards.

"We have some great young players here. Yes, we were never going to win, and they are much fitter, but I told the lads that, if they lived in Hawick, they would play for Hawick too."

One of the game's best exchanges played itself out in front of us, as we stood at the touchline. "Give the ball to the backs, Davy!" shouted one fan.

McVey looked at him and replied: "We're trying to do that as we speak, it's just that there seem to be more of them than us at the moment."

As far as entertaining comments went, it narrowly beat the local fan that shouted: "Play for time Greenock!" as the teams ran onto the pitch.

And let's not beat about the bush here when it comes to Greenock. In the set scrummage, with veteran Sandy Crear on the tighthead, and a superb shove coming from Ross MacNish and Donny Cunningham in the second row, the local fans were treated to the unusual sight of Hawick being shoved around for a good portion of the game.

Both MacNish, a fine player in the loose, and Cunningham won their own lineouts and snaffled Hawick's regularly, while Jamie Cumming was quick off the back of his scrum, and Kane Fraser and Dave McVey were absolute terriers in the loose.

McVey was so comfortable disrupting Hawick on the drive that he looked like he was happily back on the farm in Millport.

Stand off Chris Lyons commanded his back line with both centres Johnny Sorensen and Simon Gray displaying powerful runs and tackles.

They just lacked the precision that is needed to score tries against great defenders like Hawick.

Hawick were too streetwise, too quick out wide, too fit, and ultimately proved the difference in class needed to succeed in the rarefied atmosphere five divisions above Greenock.

In Colin Murray on the left wing they had a powerful strike force, aided and abetted by Joe Edwards and Craig Dunlea on the drive, with Barry Keown a one-man maul-collapser.

Stephen Cranston too, began to enjoy the game more the longer it went on and the result was never in doubt.

As a fine mist descended, Hawick fought for a nine-point lead at the break. Stephen Cranston rollicked over between the posts after a John Houston crashed the ball through the gap for their first try. The second came as Dave Irving took a tap penalty and Craig Dunlea went over.

Kicks from Chris Lyons always kept the locals in the hunt but Hawick, with their four New Zealanders in the pack, ground out the yards with their pick and drive forward play as Nick Martin started to prove his worth.

A long range try came though with Murray on the left blasting up the wing, Dunlea followed up, Turnbull provided the link, and Irving was over.

Then for a 10-minute spell Greenock threw bodies into attack, blasted the Hawick scrum back, had the ball held up over the line, and then knocked on. But it was to no avail as Hawick reached top gear and crossed for three tries, one from Stephen Cranston and two from Cammie Bruce.

I left with the teams posing for a joint photograph, the barbecue in top gear, and the players away to have a beer and start to invent their stories of how they once nearly beat Hawick.

Heck, this is what cup rugby is all about.

Copyright 2001
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