Boroughmuir 48 - 3 Glasgow Hawks: Muir make a mockery of form to send Hawks flying

Unlikely though it is, Boroughmuir could still miss out on a place in the elite eight after the RBS Premiership cut-off point on 5 November, but such was the quality of their play on Saturday in overwhelming Glasgow Hawks, it would be a significant loss to Scottish club rugby if the Meggetland men were not part of the battle for British and Irish Cup places in the second half of the season.

Yet this performance, achieved without their first choice midfield players, followed some indifferent displays by Boroughmuir in recent weeks. “We lost our last four games but today we won the forward battle and produced some great rugby,” said Muir’s coach, Fergus Pringle.

Against Hawks, Boroughmuir’s forwards were much sharper at the breakdown, providing a stream of possession that allowed the home backs to show their inventive attacking skills. Among Boroughmuir’s top performers, likely under-20 cap Harry Leonard impressed at stand-off, Sep Visser showed why he has been snapped up by Edinburgh with powerful running that brought two tries, while Ally Warnock kept the scoreboard ticking over with five conversions and one penalty goal.

Additionally Boroughmuir were able to bring off the bench exciting young players like teenager Alex Henderson, the former Strathallan and Scotland under-18 flanker, and fellow back row Jamie Swanson, who can surely look forward to a second season in the Scotland under-20 squad.

For Hawks the margin of defeat was difficult to explain away. “It is puzzling that the same pack that performed well against Heriot’s last week was so badly beaten today,” observed Peter Wright, the Hawks coach, who must now focus on the second half of the championship and on securing a top two finishing place in Premiership B if, that is, west coast rugby is to have a second representative in next season’s ten-team championship.

Hawks were under pressure from the kick-off as Boroughmuir, playing ambitious rugby, launched waves of attacks, rewarded first with an Ally Warnock penalty and then a try by Sean Crombie after the skilful hooker had evaded two tacklers.

A long pass from Leonard, and clever running by winger Jordan Webster created a try for Visser before Muir extended their lead with a penalty try and a touchdown from flanker Andy Rose to rack up a 31-3 lead by half time, Hawks’ only points coming from a Mike Martin penalty.

Muir showed no lenience after the break and quickly added further points after Visser and Webster made the running for a try by lock Ally Davidson. Even down to 14 men after Rose was sin-binned, Muir were still able to pile on the agony, adding tries by Webster and Visser to complete their own rehabilitation and a demolition job on Hawks.

Scorers: Boroughmuir: Tries: Crombie, Visser 2, Rose, Davidson, Webster, penalty try. Cons: Warnock 5. Pen: Warnock. Glasgow Hawks: Pen: Martin.

Boroughmuir: A Warnock; S Visser, S Wilson, M Hare, J Webster; H Leonard, S Johnson; R Hislop, S Crombie, B Blair, G Scott, A Davidson, M Harvey, A Rose, I Moody. Subs used: J Latta, N Fraser, J Swanson, A Henderson, R Bradford.

Glasgow Hawks: A Horton; T Steven, K Gossman, M Martin, S Murray; D Karaitiana, P Jericevich; S Findlay, J McFarlane, G Hunter, R McKay, N Campbell, R Hamilton, G Strang, R Miller. Subs used: P Henderson, C Taylor, A Barbieri, K Hamilton, G McDonald.

Referee: T Hall (RFU)