Hawick 27

Glasgow Hawks 47

Atholl Innes at Mansfield Park

HAWICK and Hawks will be relieved there is no relegation this season with seemingly only pride at stake.

Whatever happens with the final Super Six decision, the top clubs not chosen as members of the elite will play in the top league from next September.

But there was certainly no desire at Mansfield Park on Saturday to simply fulfil the fixture in a game which Hawick lost its grip on with only 12 minutes to play.

Two yellow cards steered a potential first win of the season away from the Greens after referee Graeme Ormiston, of Gala, sent Ruaridh Macleod and Dalton Redpath to the sin-bin and the total complexion of the contest changed dramatically.

The Greens had fought back from 14-28 at the interval to 27-28 and the momentum had shifted hands; however, the double-yellow ended the home challenge.

A depressed coach, George Graham admitted: “I am bitterly dejected.

"But Hawks did not score any points when we had men off the field.

“I thought that the boys did very well. We got a penalty when we were down in numbers, and I thought we would score at the other end.

“We are not the team we were last season. We have a few changes. But that is not an excuse and we will just keep working away for we could possibly have won the game.”

The penalty decision did not decide the game, but Hawks coach, Fin Gillies, could not understand how the referee awarded a penalty against his side when Hawick were down to six men in the scrum.

“We cannot look at everything with rose-tinted glasses if you take away the last 15 minutes of the game,” he said.

Tries from Andrew Mitchell and Bruce McNeil in the first half and Frankie Robson added to three Kyle Brunton conversions and two penalties, the Hawks ramped up through the gears with tries by Lee Jones, Paddy Boyer, Angus Fraser, Grant Stewart and Kristian Kay and Liam Brimms conversions adding to the Mansfield Park agony.

Hawick: L. Armstrong; K. Young, A. Mitchell, D. Buckley, F. Robson; K. Brunton, G. Huggan; S. Muir, C. Renwick, R. Macleod, D. Suddon, D. Redpath, S. Graham, B. McNeill, D. Davison. Replacements: M. Carryer, A.Grieve, S. Fairbairn, K. Davies, L. Ferguson.