The Harden Hawks travelled to Braidwood last Saturday to take on second place Braidwood and came away with a very impressive 46-12 victory.
The day started on a high note with the boys on the bus participating in a photo shoot with for the Women in League promotion. And the day just kept getting better.
It was clear from the start the Hawks meant business. The game started at a fast pace with both sides trying to show their authority with punishing defence. The first try was scored after 5 minutes when the Hawks worked their way towards the Braidwood line. In a swing of play, Matt Stewart mad a great run down the blind side and slipped a super pass to Andrew Jones to score right in the corner which Abed converted.
The next 15 minutes was dominated by defence with the Hawks moving up quickly and hustling the Braidwood players with ruthless tackling. Even at this early stage, it was apparent the bruising tactics were taking their toll on Braidwood. In the 15th minute, Mathew Stewart again made a strong run and again slipped a pass to Andrew Jones who beat 3 players to score in the corner once more.
Abed certainly was in fine form from the near side of the ground, kicking from the side line to take the score to 12-nil. In the next minute Mathew Stewart, who was on fire and having a roaring game, scored beside the uprights from a good pass from Captain Coach Jason Pollard. Graham Murray scored next in the corner, to have the Hawks leading 22-0. Soon after, Nathan Muscat broke away down the side line and slipped the ball to Graham Murray. Right on half time, Braidwood scored a converted try to result in a half time score of 26-6.
The Hawks continued to play well in the second half with tries to Adam Byrne (2), and 1 each to Nathan Schofield, Luke Brown and Abed Atallah. The first try by Adam Byrne went through 10 pairs of hands before he crossed the line.
It was literally a smashing display by the Hawks summed up by the coach when he addressed the boys after the game “well what can I say”. Barney Ings described the performance as awesome and the best he has ever seen this group play comparing them to last year and before. It is early days yet, but bring on September!
In a game where everyone played well, the stand out was Matthew Stewart as “Man of the Match” and he also received the Mobil Coach’s Award. The boys were so excited by their win they forgot to elect a Player’s player.
This week the Hawks play at home this Saturday against Crookwell. This game will start at 3pm as will all future Home games for the Harden Hawks. This allows the hard working Saturday morning types more time to get ready for the game, particularly those that need lots of strapping (just ask David Ings!).
There will be a committee meeting at the Club this Thursday evening commencing at 6.30pm, the main purpose to plan for Saturday’s game including the Women in League promotion which is published elsewhere in the Express. Karen Glover and Claudia Atallah are also interested in forming a fund-raising subcommittee and it is also expected that this will be endorsed. The Club would also like to acknowledge the sponsorships from Twomey and Patterson and the Harden Licensed Post Office and we are very grateful for their support. The Club T Shirts have now arrived and will be on sale from this weekend.
The Exhibition of the Harden Hawks is now proudly on display in Murrumburrah in the old Sewell building next to Twomey and Patterson. This has created a tremendous amount of interest and the Club thanks Barry Quinn, Paul McCarthy, Rodney Cooper, Una West, June Howe and the Harden Murrumburrah Express for providing photos and memorabilia from their collections. The Club also particularly thanks De Farrell for her assistance in setting up the display and for organising the laminating and enlarging of old photographs. The display will be a work in progress so if anyone has other contributions please contact Christina Heath on 6386 5282.
Until next week, go the Hawks on Saturday!
CH
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