Arnold Clark Men's Premiership: Freddy Owsley brace helps Watsonians to win over Glasgow Hawks
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Watsonians 26
Glasgow Hawks 10
GARY HEATLY @ Myreside
FULL-BACK Freddie Owsley scored two tries as Watsonians recorded a bonus point win over Glasgow Hawks at Myreside. The hosts had most of the early possession and pressure and when they went 14-0 up after 25 minutes you felt they may run away with this one. However, some credit must go to a dogged Hawks team who stuck in and, if they had scored again in the second period when 21-10 down, there might have just been some real nervous in the home ranks. As it was, Owsley's second try made it 26-10 in the 56th minute and that was to be the end of the scoring.
This was a game, in truth, that never really hit top gear – or anywhere close to it – and there were handling errors aplenty from both sides which was strange given the dry conditions.
For Watsonians, former Edinburgh Rugby man Owsley and his back-three colleagues Sam Leweni and Lomond Macpherson showed flashes of what they can do while Merchiston Castle student Zander Mactaggart did well off the bench in the second half in the pack. In centre Lewis Berg's last game before moving to Australia he was his usual steadying influence in midfield, too.
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The Edinburgh side were missing a few key men and so were Hawks for whom experienced scrum-half Scott Steele and tight-head prop Isaiah Malaulau stood out.
Watsonians are safely in third in the standings after this win and head coach Davey Wilson said: "We are pleased to get the win, but if we had been more composed then we could have probably made it more comfortable for ourselves.
"There were a few key players missing, but I know Hawks can say the same and in a rearranged game like this on Calcutta Cup weekend the main thing was getting the victory.
"I thought at times when we got on the front foot we looked good and young Zander Mactaggart made the most of his second chance at this level, but in the coming weeks we will be looking for more complete performances."
The first points came in the 11th minute when stand-off Dom Coetzer's looping pass found Leweni and the winger neatly fed the ball inside to Owsley who cantered over. Coetzer converted and it was 7-0 to Watsonians.
It was 14-0 14 minutes later when the ball was shipped very swiftly from left to right with Leweni and Owsley putting Lomond Macpherson away and he finished very well with Coetzer converting.
Hawks had not fired too many shots by then, but a penalty by stand-off Liam Brims, the co-captain, got them on the board after half an hour.
That gave the visitors a bit of hope before Watsonians scored a crucial third converted try just before the half-time interval through No.8 Stu Allison to make it 21-3.
Hawks knew that they needed to get the first points of the second half on the board to stay in the fight and they did. In the 48th minute, former Scotland man Steele went over for a try with Brims converting to close the gap to 11 points.
Owsley then produced a piece of individual magic eight minutes later to give his side the bonus point fourth try and some breathing space yet again. He slalomed his way from his own half over for a try against a stretched defence and it was 26-10.
The last 24 minutes probably summed up the contest well in general because, although there was no lack of effort, there was plenty of handling errors and putting meaningful phases together became tricky.
After the defeat, Hawks' head coach Andy Hill – who was missing the likes of Marcus Goodwin, Seb Hastings, Tobi Sofidaya, Gavin Cruickshanks, Max Crumlish, Andrew Syme, James Couper and Campbell Waugh – said: "We knew this was going to be a tough game against a physical side who are looking set for the play-offs given the players we were without.
"Squad rotation affected key areas such as the lineout while we couldn't quite get our game going as we'd have liked. The guys who stepped up did well though and we 'won' the second half, but could not get quite close enough on the scoreboard to get any bonus points.
"Murray Godsman's had a tough few years with illness and injury so it was good to see him getting a run out and Bryan Hall also came off the bench and did well after stepping up from the seconds."
Teams –
Watsonians: F Owsley; L Macpherson, L Berg, R Kerr, S Leweni; D Coetzer, C McAlpine; C Lamberton, M Pritchard, T Gracie, A McInnes, K Van Niekerk ©, S Cecil, J Minty, S Allison. Subs: J Holligan, M Marshall, L Ball, Z Mactaggart, Z Walls, M Scott, J Mitchell.
Glasgow Hawks: E Muirhead; H Provan, N Thompson, C Elliot, R Flett; L Brims co-©, S Steele; K Shanahan, P Cairncross co-©, I Malaulau, C Nolan, S Halafihi, R Howie, Y Shaheen, J Campbell. Subs: T McTeir, F Muir, F Anderson, B Hall, B Jackson, J Hastings, M Godsman.
Referee: S Turnbull.
Scorers –
Watsonians: Tries: Owsley 2, Macpherson, Allison; Cons: Coetzer 3.
Glasgow Hawks: Try: Steele. Con: Brims; Pen: Brims.
Scoring Sequence (Watsonians first): 5-0; 7-0; 12-0; 14-0; 14-3; 19-3; 21-3 (h-t) 21-8; 21-10; 26-10.
Player-of-the-Match: Sam Leweni and Lomond Macpherson were good on the wings for Watsonians when given ball, but for his two tries – the second one in particular which killed things off – Freddie Owsley, the home full-back, takes the award.
Talking point: The number of handling errors by both sides. On a dry, albeit windy day, when players got on the front foot there was some decent rugby played by both sides, but the numerous handling errors made getting a flow in proceedings near impossible.
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