TIGERS SHARPEN THEIR CLAWS

Glasgow Tigers 34 Napier Mavericks 6

Glasgow Tigers finally got their BUAFL campaign off and running with some style at the weekend with a resounding victory over their east coast rivals.

Following a disappointing display against the Caledonian Roughriders, the Tigers turned up at the Garscube Sport Centre knowing that nothing less than a victory would do if they were to remain in contention for a place in the national play offs

They were facing a Mavericks side that had managed to bounce back from their 68 point white wash by Newcastle in week 1 and were now looking to make it three wins on the trot and keep the pressure on the Paisley Pyros at the top of the table.

The Tigers could not have asked for the worst build up to their first home game of the season, losing their opening two games.

Lady Luck appeared to continue to frown on them when on the day of the game, they story went that official refs turned up unexpectedly to say that the all weather pitch was unplayable and were nowhere to be seen afterwards.

However with the original officials planned for the game, any problems with the pitch appeared to have been fixed and the game was going to go ahead as planned- however there was one major set back - no ambulance

In fact as the winter chill continued to kick in, one wondered whether the paramedics were going to turn up at all.

When the ambulance did turn up, it was not going to be too difficult to fire up the home side.

After having to wait for over an hour for the game to start, Glasgow were determined to take out their frustrations on the opposition and get the game off to a ferocious start.

And lovers of nature know too well how fierce Tigers can be!

Right from the opening whistle, the Glasgow side charged down the opposition who went three and out on their opening possession.

And on the first Glasgow drive, the visitors were on the back foot when a Gregor Beattie shuffle pass to Duncan Black, took the Tigers to the Mavericks 12 yard line.

Minutes later, the receiver crossed the goal line but the score was chalked off for a holding penalty.

Minutes later, the Tigers were in touch of the goal line again, following a great catch by Grant McAuslan just inches short of the end zone, leaving quarterback Beattie, dived over for the opening six points, with Ben Rothraff running in the conversion attempt for an 8-0 lead.

The Tigers confidence continued to rise as they continued to dominate going into the second quarter with some hard hitting play on defense and excellent play from their offensive line.

Napier, pinned deep in their half soon found themselves deep in their half of the field and had to punt away possession, but a botched snap saw the ball fly over the punters head, rolling into the endzone resulting in a two point safety.

Glasgow increased their lead on their next drive, when a hand off to Black saw the receiver tear down the far side of the field, sprint 40 yards for another touchdown.

The Tigers came out firing at the start of the third quarter, when Rothraff made some big yardage to mid field.

But what ever was said to the Edinburgh side at the start of the half seemed to have some effect as they start to excerpt some pressure on the Tigers attack, forcing them to punt away possession.

And Napier soon gave the Tigers players some food for thought getting back into the game when Steve Rodoja got on to the end of a deep pass for a touchdown.

But the Tigers regrouped and showed the same kind of intensity as their first half display when they Ross Wilson recovered a loose ball on the two point conversion, running two thirds of the length of the field for another 2 point safety.

The Tigers were back in control in the final period when having spent most of their time running the game from the back field's they showed that they too had a passing game with McAuslan getting on to the end of a long Beattie pass at the corner of the end zone.

And when Black cut through with the two point conversion, Mavericks were playing for pride.

But their pride was shattered when the Tigers defense capped off a terrific performance on the day, Mike Wallace intercepted a long pass and returned it all the way for the final touchdown of the day, which was successfully converted by Rothraff, making it 34-6 final score.