Arnold Clark Men's Premiership: Currie Chieftains pip Glasgow Hawks at the death

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Currie Chieftains 43

Glasgow Hawks 38

IAIN HAY @ Malleny Park

ON the event of home prop Graeme Carson's 200th cap – and a 50th for visiting back-rower Lewis Stewart – these two sides served up a game-of-the-season contender, with the home team  snatching victory from the Hawks' talons with the last play of the match.

"Performance levels, for me, weren't where they needed to be, but then you've got to watch that game again and find out how much of that was us not being up to task and how much of that was Hawks, they played some really good rugby," said a relieved home coach Mark Cairns, after seeing his side tighten their grip on the last play-off spot after Selkirk's sound defeat at Myreside.

After going into the sheds at 17-12, the second half exploded into an exhibition match, with 54 points coming from 8 tries. "It wasn't always the plan [to play so openly],” Cairns continued. “We wanted to try and form some forward control and dominance, but because of the weather and the dry paddock it just became a game where the boys wanted to chuck it about and express themselves.

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"We've got three tough away games now – Kelso, Hawick and Marr – where we'll need to pick up points. But we're in a really strong position now."

The bounce of a rugby ball can be cruel, or kind, depending on how you're looking at it, but it was the former for Hawks as Currie raced into a two-try lead despite a bright Hawks start. Late replacement Fraser Sayers was first to benefit, the ball deceiving Andy McLean and landing in Sayers hands, and on his inside shoulder was Gregor Christie to canter over.

Sayers had come into the team on the right wing, with James McCaig moving to stand-off, and his quickly taken penalty, coupled with Charlie Brett's dink over the top and the bounce doing for James Couper this time, saw Ryan Daley go over in  the opposite corner.

Ryan Flett climbed highest to claim Liam Brims' restart, and the Hawks winger then ran a perfect line through the gap in defence, half-century maker Lewis Stewart on his shoulder to mark the occasion with a try.

Scrum-halves Christie and Brent Jackson were involved in their own try-scoring mini-battle. Jackson's close-range finish after the forwards had a couple of goes levelled the scores, with Brims somehow missing the easiest conversion he had of the afternoon. But Currie went in with the lead after a contentious penalty for playing the ball from an offside position went against Hawks and Ryan Stewart dotted down from the back of the maul.

Christie got his second to open the scoring in the second half following a break through the middle by lock Courtney West, but Hawks remained in the fight. Flett claimed another restart to set them on their way and, when playing with penalty advantage, Finlay Callaghan finished well in the right corner, with Brims' conversion clipping the crossbar on its way over.

Christie completed his hat-trick after running another typical scrum-half support line, this time centre Scott Robeson being the man to make the linebreak and offload. Then when Hawks won a scrum penalty against the head deep in Currie territory, Jackson got his second from close range.

Good hands from Brett and West sent replacement Roy Vucago over for Currie in reply, but the electric Hawks backs weren't for slowing and their own replacement Euan Muirhead was there to rein Currie back in. McLean's conversion made the score 38-33.

The Hawks bench had made quite an impact, Max Crumlish making some rampaging charges through the middle, one of which led to a yellow card for Iain Sim, and with the clock ticking down, Hawks took the lead for the first time.

Christie's box-kick was charged down, Hawks retained composure and Craig Nolan crossed the whitewash to level the scores. McLean's conversion squeezed in at the left-hand side to seemingly cap a remarkable turnaround, until the very death.

Hawks claimed a knock-on before human wrecking ball Isaiah Malaulau was pinged for offside, and although they repelled the Currie maul, there was space on the right wing for Robeson to seal victory after a big Brett mis-pass. Graeme Carson tried to add the extras on his special day, alas he should probably stick to scrumming.

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"I thought the players were outstanding. We'd been talking all week – not about proving people wrong but proving ourselves right – and I thought the performance deserved a win.

"It just shows you when we get things right, and we have the bodies that we need available, we can compete with anyone. Currie's the only team to have beaten Ayr so it shows they can mix it.

"I was quite confident coming in that if we got things right we could be competitive throughout and be in a position to win it – which we obviously were.

"We worked a lot on our attack shape and connections in defence. People will look at our results against Watson’s'and Heriot's (two recent 26-10 and 15-38 defeats respectively) but if you watch the games you'll see how competitive we've been. Our set-piece has killed us, but today we had folk back and it makes a massive difference."

Teams –

Currie Chieftains: C Brett; F Sayers, R Southern S Robeson, R Daley; J McCaig, G Christie; G Carson, R Stewart, G Scougall, C West, A Bain, W Nelson, A Fletcher, S Cardosi. Subs: R Vucago, C Anderson, C Ramsay, K Borthwick, E Hasdell, S Leto, I Sim.

Glasgow Hawks: A McLean; J Couper, F Callaghan, C Elliot, R Flett; L Brims (co-c), B Jackson; F Muir, P Cairncross (co-c), I Malaulau, R Burke, C Nolan, L Stewart, Y Shaheen, S Hastings. Subs: R Howie, James Campbell, M Crumlish, J Morris, J Hastings, G Cruickshanks, E Muirhead.

Referee: Sam O'Neill.

Scorers –

Currie Chieftains: Tries: Christie (3), Daley, R Stewart, Vucago, Robeson. Cons: Brett (4).

Glasgow Hawks: Tries: Jackson (2), L Stewart, Callaghan, Muirhead, Nolan.  Cons: Brims (2), McLean (3).

Scoring sequence (Chieftains first): 7-0; 12-0; 12-7; 12-12; 17-12 (h-t)24-12; 24-19; 31-19; 31-26; 38-26; 38-33; 38-40; 43-40.
Yellow card –  

Currie Cheiftains: Sim.
Player-of-the-Match: Not for the first time this season, I am denying the hat-trick hero the award. Eventual match-winner Scott Robeson made some telling linebreaks in midfield and won a couple of turnovers to slow down the Hawks.
 
Talking Point: Some way to sign off your league campaign at home, you'd expect Currie to secure that last play-off berth, but down at the other end, Hawks will be in a dogfight to the end. Perhaps the dangling carrot of Glasgow derbies versus GHA next season can inspire them to getting the required results.

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