What he found particularly pleasing was the contribution of the youngsters who will be looking at playing Under-18 or Under-20 rugby later in the season.

“There’s a big focus on Max Morrison because he’s a tight-head prop who is doing great things, but Harvey Preston is another young guy who is just phenomenal in the loose – he’s one of these error-free sevens who just runs about and does what he has to do. Then we brought in Murray Waugh, a 17-year-old schoolboy. The key is to back them.”

It all means that things are looking up at Hawks in a way that can only make their opponents envious. Also rebuilding and fielding a lot of youngsters, Hawick faded badly as the game wore on and never really competed properly after the break.

It was, admitted head coach Graham Hogg, a problem, and the players themselves said it had been an “unacceptable” performance. “That’s coming from the players in the circle there. We need to sort it out,” he added.

“We were in the game in the first 40 minutes, a lot of what we were trying to do was coming off, and they were sticking to the gameplan. But the second half – it’s been a theme for us this season.

“We’re a team low on confidence. As a group of coaches, we are trying our best to raise the boys’ confidence. They are intelligent rugby players and know when things are not going right, but it’s our task to turn it around.

“We knew it was going to be difficult. We’re bringing in a lot of young players, and they need to learn quickly. We need to keep working with them to make them realise what type of players they are. You don’t move up from Under-18 rugby to senior rugby and become a bad player.”

To be fair, both teams looked short on confidence at the start; the difference was that Hawks grew into the game while Hawick faded out of it. On top of that, the Glasgow side were more ambitious right from the start, and that helped them when things clicked.

They led twice in the opening exchanges, both from penalties by fly-half Liam Brims, the first levelled by his opposite number Kyle Brunton, but at the same time Hawks were giving away penalties, and therefore field position, allowing Hawick to camp in their 22.

The Greens made hard work of converting the pressure, two mauls being held short of the line and the backs making little headway, before the visitors reverted to the old-fashioned pick-and-go, with flanker Connor Sutherland the one to make the final inches. With Brunton converting via the post, the Borders side were in front.

Hawks were still playing the brighter rugby when they won the ball and kept it, and really should have gone back in front when Ryan Flett, the wing, escaped down the touchline with Seb Hastings, the No 8, in support to carry the move on. Despite support around him, however, the ball went loose and the chance went begging.

It did put Hawks in the visitors’ 22 and when Hastings got another run, this time they made no mistake, recycling the ball until Morrison drove over, with Brims converting.

With their noses in front, a clever kick-through from centre Gavin Cruickshank brought a mistake from Hawick, who booted the ball dead, conceding a scrum-five. Despite being under pressure, Hastings picked up from the base and blasted his way over.

Hawick should have cut the deficit on the stroke of half-time but turned down a kickable penalty and then messed up the kick to the corner, allowing the home side to take an eight-point lead into the break.

That might have been the breakthrough for them as Hawks came out prepared to use the ball from everywhere, and though it took them a while to reap the reward, it did come eventually. A kick to the corner gave them the line-out maul, and Preston was at the back to touch down.

Minutes later, he was at it again after pressure from the home pack forced Hawick to carry over, and two scrums later, Preston was collecting the ball at the back and powering his way over for the bonus-point try.

As if that wasn’t enough, Preston quickly made it a hat-trick, again at the back of a maul as it powered its way over the line. With Brims converting the latter two, Hawks knew they had the result pretty much sewn up.

The final word went to the other flanker, Yousuf Shaheen, who had been a standout player for his side all match and earned his reward when another scrum in the opposition 22 gave him his opening, and his strength did the rest.

 

Teams –

Glasgow Hawks: E Muirhead; R Flett, D Barrie, G Cruickshank, J Hastings; L Brims, C Reidy; M Morrison, P Cairncross©, B Sweet, A Orr, M Oliver, Y Shaheen, H Preston, S Hastings. Subs used: T McNeir, T Banatvala, S Gray, A Young, S Steele, M Waugh, J Couper.

Hawick: C Welsh; F Douglas, A Mitchell, G Huggan, C McLeod; K Brunton, Z Lewis; S Muir, F Renwick©, N Little, H Donaldson, S Fairbairn, S Byrd, C Sutherland, G Moroldo. Subs used: C Crawley, W Donaldson, G Welsh, M Brogan, M Swailes, B Jardine, O Gray.

Referee: Rob McDowell

 

Scorers –

Glasgow Hawks: Tries: Morrison, S Hastings, Preston 3, Shaheen; Cons: Brims 3; Pens: Brims 2.

Hawick: Tries: Sutherland; Cons: Brunton; Pens: Brunton.

Scoring sequence (Glasgow Hawks first): 3-0; 3-3; 6-3; 6-8; 6-10; 11-10; 13-10; 18-10 (h-t) 23-10; 28-10; 30-10; 35-10; 37-10; 42-10.

 

Player-of-the-match: Once Hawks settled down, they had plenty of contenders with Euan Muirhead rock steady at full-back, Max Morrison bossing the scrum from prop and flanker Harvey Preston collecting a hat-trick of tries. At the heart of it all throughout the 80 minutes, though, was Yousuf Shaheen, whose work rate and yards through the tackle earn him the prize.

Talking point: These were two sides with adventurous youth policies and at times it showed. But when you see the likes of Murray Waugh missing his school game in the morning to play Premiership rugby in the afternoon, you know something is going right. The crowd of teenagers in both teams can only benefit from exposure to games like this and ultimately the real winner could well be the Scotland age-grade sides.