With little else to do, (not strictly true but decorating can wait) I was sorting through the third drawer down and came upon some old memory sticks, and what memories!
11 years ago, to the day, the mighty Hawks travelled across to the West Riding to play Old Brods. Here's what transpired.

OLD BRODLIANS 10 – IONIANS HAWKS 26

Endersby, Thundercliffe, Greene, Waddy, Johnson, Gordon, Barrass, Hall, Forth, Wilson, Hill, Carew, Liddle, Dodge, Cussack.

The Old Brodlians ground is set in the sort of location that inspires all manor of splendour, but on a thoroughly miserable afternoon it failed to inspire either team to any sort of greatness. It was dour. Both sides were able to turn out strong teams, neither side having first XV fixtures, the Hawks had the luxury of 4 replacements. Ionians secured a comfortable victory due to some determined defending and the pace and class of skipper of the day James Greene who made 1 try and scored 2 as the Hawks made the game safe in the final quarter
Brods started the match with the benefit of the slope and the wind and looked to establish field position by kicking deep then having the forwards driving close off ruck and maul. Ionians defended manfully led by the back row pair of Cussack and Liddle and aided and abetted by Gordan and Greene. For long periods in the first half the game was a midfield stalemate Poor handling, which was understandable in the conditions, and poor decision making, which wasn’t, frustrating players and spectators alike. Ionians opened the scoring; inevitably it was a try by the forwards. The Hawks worked the ball up the field through a combination of forward drives and close support play. Ionians were awarded a scrum and from second phase mauled the ball over the line for Scott Wilson to claim the try. Ian Gordon tagged on the goal. Brods quickly reduced the deficit when they were awarded a penalty for handling in the ruck. (That’s my guess anyway; the ref was poor at communicating his decisions all afternoon).
At half time the Hawks rang the changes, new boys Townsend and Smith replaced Thundercliffe and Johnson on the wings and Rice fitting in the front row for Forth. Mike Owen had to wait his chance for 10 minutes because Dodge had been yellow carded for the indiscretion that led to the Brods score. Precious little else changed. The rain continued to fall, handling errors abounded and forward play was the order of the day. Inspiration came from the unlikely source of the touch line. Manager Wilson swapped Smith to scrum half and Barrass to the wing and the game came alight. Firstly Barrass, given a bit of space, showed a nice turn of pace and made a good break down the wing, and then the other backs joined in. Aided by quicker ball Ionians came alive in the backs. Greene made a lovely break on half way to put Townsend in at the corner, Gordon narrowly missing a difficult conversion. Having seen what works The Hawks repeated the feat twice more: forward drive, quick ball, quick hands, quick feet, try, goal. Greene and Gordon supplying the points on both occasions to lead 26 – 3. Brodlians responded with the final try, they kicked up field more in hope than expectation but the luckless Barrass allowed the slippery ball to escape from his grasp and the Brods winger accepted the simplest of tries which was duly converted to leave the final score 10 – 26.
It was a workman like display from the Hawks. James Liddle was the pick of a hard working pack which produced a solid performance in the scrum if a rather mixed day in the lineout and was excellent in defence. Ian Gordon had a good day at fly half, with some impressive work in defence. James Greene produced the outstanding display of the day, his ability to spot the gap and accelerate smoothly away set him apart. It’s somewhat ironic that those very qualities deserted him behind the wheel, crashing as he exited the car park before he got into second! Never mind James.