Rugby: Moala too hot to handle

Published on Monday 2 November 2009 08:56

Currie 59 Glasgow Hawks 6

CURRIE scrum-half Richard Snedden offered Scotland's A rugby side a few pointers as to the threat they could be facing next month after helping his club maintain their unbeaten start to the Scottish Hydro Premiership with a 59-6 thrashing of Glasgow Hawks.

Scotland A are down for a Friday 20 November duel with Tonga at Galashiels and, on current form, Currie winger Willie Moala must be close to adding a full cap for that country to those already gained for them at seven-a-sides.

After helping set up Moala for two of the four tries he scored in the rout of Hawks, Snedden insisted his colleague, who arrived at Currie this season as part of a trip around Europe, looks capable of playing at a much higher level.

"Willie might well get a call to face Scotland A because he is up there in ability," he said.

Moala now has 14 tries from ten starts with Currie and Snedden added: "When you have someone of Willie's speed and sidestepping ability you really have to use him at every opportunity. Give him a bit of room and he's away."

Snedden and Moala combined to launch the Currie barrage after Hawks had opened the scoring with a third-minute penalty from stand-off Duncan Weir.

Taking a tap penalty to catch Hawks flat-footed, Snedden worked the blindside to give Moala a clear run to the line.

The New Zealand-raised winger's second major contribution came after an intercept touchdown from Graham White and a captain's effort from Andy Adam with Moala rounding off a move which started when Snedden spoiled effectively at the base of a Hawks scrum. That brought the bonus point in only 32 minutes and when Ross Weston went over after one of the moves of the season which started on the home line and saw front rowers Alun Walker and Ally Hamilton among the handlers, Currie turned round at 33-6, Weir having slotted a penalty from halfway.

Thereafter it was always a case of how many Currie would notch and Johnny Smith, on his way to an eventual 19-point haul, opened the second half scoring before Moala twice cashed in on misfields to romp in.

Currie are now able to focus on Saturday's visit to champions Ayr. "It wasn't difficult to put the Ayr game out of our heads beforehand because Hawks had beaten us home and away last season and are generally a bit of a bogey to us," said Sneddon.

"They came to us on the back of a 40-point win at Edinburgh Accies so that alone was sufficient to concentrate our minds and to beat them the way we did shows we are certainly getting to where we want to be."

Currie have now scored a massive 68 tries and are averaging more than 48 points a game. Little wonder coach Ally Donaldson wore a satisfied smile while playing down any talk of a title decider at Ayr next week.

"A lot of people have been talking about the Ayr game for a while but we haven't," he said.

"We'll concentrate on it this week but so far as beating Hawks was concerned it was satisfying to show we have a bit of extra depth in our squad.

"James Taggart, Mark Cairns, Chris Kinloch and Matthew Scott were all missing but into their places came Steve Burton, Andy Binikos and Graham White who gave fantastic performances.

"Scott Forrest (Glasgow pro] also turned up to join us under the draft scheme for the first time this week and bought straight into what we were trying to do. It's far too early to talk about any title decider. For one thing, after facing Ayr we return to Malleny Park to play Heriot's in their last match before competing in the British and Irish Cup, when they will surely want to be as close to full strength as possible."

That Heriot's fixture has been moved to the Friday evening, 13 November, and is sure to be a worthy curtain-raiser to the Scotland-Fiji clash the following day.

For the moment, though, it is Moala who is capturing the imagination at Currie.

Donaldson admitted: "Willie is a very shy and humble guy – but he certainly knows how to finish off moves, that's for sure."

Scorers:

Currie: Tries: Moala (4), Weston (2), White, Smith, Adam; Conversions: Smith (7). Hawks: Penalties: Weir (2).

Currie: J Smith, W Moala, G White, A MacMahon, D Fife, A Binikos, R Snedden, A Hamilton, A Walker, A Reekie, A Adam, captain, R Wilson, S Burton, R Weston, J Thomson. Subs: N Scobie, G Temple, M Blair, I Downie, S Forrest.

Hawks: R Hair, K Gossman, M Adamson, G Harkness, C Gossman. D Weir, E Morrison, N Cox, captain, E Milligan, G Strain, A Kirkland, M Whittleston, C Kerr, G Francis, G Oommen. Subs: G Mories, C Taylor, C Harvey, I Noble, S Low.