VITAL SPARK
After edging out the Lanarkshire side by a single score two weeks ago, the depth of the Tigers squad proved to be too much for the Hawks and after a hotly contested first quarter, they soon started to stamp their authority midway through the second quarter when “Sparky” ran in his first touchdown of the day. Clyde Valley's troubles continued when a recovered fumble by Phil Forrest in the endzone and a two point conversion by Derek Russell, gave the Tigers fourteen unanswered points at half time. The Tigers turned up the pressure in the third period when Dick scored his second touchdown run, which was followed by a two point safety from Brandon Stenson. But the Hawks did not go down without a fight and got a well deserved consolation score from Andy Reynolds early in the fourth quarter. But the visitors shot themselves in the foot when they gave up a second safety. Tigers Head Coach, Alan Wilson was delighted with the convincing score line, but reckons that there is still some room for improvement. “We could have played a bit better,” he said. “We had a deeper roster than they had, which obviously helps a bit, but field position had a lot to do with it.” “We gave them a chance to come into it, but our punting was superb today, which pinned them down.” Despite the convincing score line, the lack of numbers continued to hamper the Hawks this afternoon, losing their starting quarterback midway through the second quarter.
But the Tigers Head Coach, insist that the new policy was more than just after thought and reckons that with the format firmly in place, the only way for the clubs to cope is to step up their own recruitment policy. He said: “The decision by the league was taken five years ago that teams at this time should be going 11 on 11. So it is not a case of them making the decision straight away.” “We are struggling for numbers. Today we had twenty one players, the minimum requirement is twenty.” “We do have three or four players doing exams at the moment and we have one on injured reserve. “You really want a minimum of thirty five to play eleven man ball. “We have just got to get our act together. I don’t know of any club that recruits properly or recruits at all.” “We have got an American Sports day coming up soon and we hope that we can do something with that. “ |
Two
touchdowns from Ian “Sparky” Dick helped the Glasgow Tigers
deal a deadly double whammy to the Clyde Valley Hawks play off hopes with
a resounding 24-6 victory at Cambuslang Rugby club. 
Ever
since the season started, the lack of numbers has proved to be a major
headache for the Scottish teams having to adjust from the 9-aside format
to the 11 aside league introduced this year.
