Hawick 14
Glasgow Hawks 12

By Atholl Innes
at Mansfield Park

THE Hawick revival continued in an afternoon of open rugby on Saturday. 

But the Mansfield Park side left it late for the second week in a row, following their last-ditch victory over Heriot’s, to clinch a win that may well secure top-flight rugby next season. 

And head coach George Graham was delighted with the result.
He said: “I am over the moon with the result, not the performance.” 

The final whistle saw Hawick complete four successive victories after defeats of Marr, Stirling County and Heriot’s – but it took a penalty try deep into injury time to ensure that the points were secured.

The score came after a succession of penalties awarded by referee Ross Mabon. “I thought that we should had one before he gave the try,” Graham added. “We are pleased that we have now won four on the trot. 

“I thought that we had more possession and territory than they did, but we made far too many errors. Hopefully we can now kick on as we have another tough match next Saturday (at Watsonians).”

Hawks coach Finlay Gillies was disappointed with the result, but agreed that the penalty-try decision was correct – and this after his team had scored tries on the stroke of half-time and immediately on the restart.

He said: “We missed five kicks for points (a penalty and conversion) and I was worried that would come back to affect us and it did. It was a bad result to take.”

Hawick again showed the belief and determination to fight to the end of the Premiership.

A forwards’ driven try by Matt Carryer, converted by Lee Armstrong, gave Hawick a 7-0 lead before Fraser Hastie cut the deficit to 7-5 at half-time. Callum Kerr’s try from Paddy Boyer’s break on the restart was converted by Ross Thompson and put Hawks in front for the first time.

And they threatened the home line before the penalty try, with Jake Eaglesham in the sin-bin, which brought relief to Hawick and its big support.

Hawick: A Weir; R Coombe, K Davies, D Buckley, G Munro; L Armstrong, G Cottrell; S. Muir, M. Carryer, N. Little, D. Redpath, C. Hamilton, A. Baillie, S. Graham, B. McNeil. Replacements: F. Renwick, R. Gibson, L. Ferguson, M. Landels, C. McLelland.