Hawick/Jed 17

Hutchesons 12

THE Under 18 Schools Bowl final between a combined Hawick High/Jed Grammar and Hutchesons’ Grammar showed school rugby at its best.

It was an encounter that saw momentum swing back and forth, but the Borders pupils held on to lift the bowl.

Henry Benbom set the tone of the match with an electric run down the wing in the opening exchanges but was well tackled after beating a number of opponents.

The first score of the game came through a good bit of anticipation by the Hutchesons' captain as he intercepted on the halfway line to run in under the posts.

Gregor Adams made no mistake with the conversion under the sticks.

The combined side then came back into the contest, initially set up by a clever kick down the line by Lewis Smith before Elliot Stanger dotted down to put their first points on the board.

Hawick/Jed soon pushed further ahead through Stephen Cook, but it was far from conventional, a sweeping move found the willing prop out on the wing before showing a clean pair of heels to the defender before sprinting down the line to score.

The conversion was missed from left of the posts, as the combined side led at half-time.

It was Hawick/Jed who opened the scoring in the second half.

It came after an attempted chip into space in their own 22 by Hutchesons’ found the hands of Stanger who made the most of the space created by the broken play and darted in to give Lewis Smith an easy conversion attempt, which he duly slotted.

Hutchesons’ didn’t give up, however, as they looked to drag themselves back into the contest.

They bounced back as Steven Slater finished off in the corner to give his side renewed hope. The conversion attempt fell just short with the score now 17-12.

Jed/Hawick captain Ben Scott was shown a yellow card as his side had to withstand relentless pressure in the final few minutes of the match.

Ibrahim Shaikh thought he had won it at the death as he dived over, but referee Gregor McIntosh adjudicated that he was held up.

The full time whistle was greeted with huge cheers from the Hawick/Jed side as they held on to win a thrilling contest.

Hawick High/Jed Grammar: Corrie Patterson, Clark Graham, Elliot Stanger, Jack Chelley, Lewis Smith; Cian Riddell, Ben Scott, Harry Scott, Caleb Moffat, Stephen Cook, Keegan McGeown, James Wieczysty, Ben Howe, Tom Cromarty & Gareth Williams. Reps: Patrick Fishwick, Ben Swailes, Philip Porter, Owen Duncan, Lewis Elder, Findlay Falconer.