Selkirk 15

Hawick 22

Atholl Innes

at Philiphaugh

SELKIRK went close to halting Hawick’s roller-coaster at Philiphaugh on Saturday, but had to settle for a bonus point when they were left to rue four missed kicks at goal, a yellow card and a penalty try.

Hawick made it five successive wins in a Borders derby that could have gone either way and in which their forwards just held the upper hand in a tight game that drew a big crowd.

The only downside for the Greens was an inability to add a bonus point to their victory.

Selkirk head coach Scott Wight told us: "It was always going to be a hard battle and for the first 20 minutes I thought we got it bang on.

“But we did not look after the ball well in the second half.

"We had the wind, lost turn-over ball too many times and gave away far too many penalties.

“We got the losing bonus point, but we did not play well enough after the break.”

Selkirk also failed to convert any of their three tries and missed a penalty, which was to prove costly in the end.

Hawick coach George Graham praised his players for their performance.

He said: “We managed to control it better in the second half, and to win here and not play well is a big statement for me."

Henry Bithray broke the defence early on and sent Josh Welsh over for an early try.

Callum Anderson’s conversion came back off the post.

The Hawick pack seemed to be over the line before, at the second attempt, the forwards were driven over and Bruce McNeil scored. Ali Weir kicked the conversion for a 7-5 lead.

The Greens then swung the ball wide through several hands and Kirk Ford found space to go over in the right-hand corner.

Hawick turned round 12-5 ahead at the interval.

Selkirk missed a chance to cut the gap on the restart, but Anderson pulled a penalty wide.

But they hit back and Peter Forrest, who had replaced Bruce Riddell, was at the bottom of a forwards’ try.

Anderson missed the conversion and Selkirk counted the cost when Weir stretched the Hawick lead with a penalty.

Hawick pressed after Scott McClymont was sent to the sin-bin and, after a series of penalties, the referee awarded a penalty try.

Aaron McColm closed gap with a late try, but again the conversion was missed and the hosts had to settle for one point.

Selkirk: H. Birtray; J. Welsh, L. Berte, R. Nixon, R. Cottrell; C. Anderson, A. McColm; L. Pettie, J. Bett, B. Riddell, A. Mackay, D. Nichol, J. Mackay, E. Macdougall, S. McClymont. Replacements: H. Borthwick, S. Rankin, P. Forrest, L. Merolle, C. McNeill.

Hawick: K. Ford; L. Ferguson, A. Mitchell, W. Griebenow, L. Gordon-Wooley; A. Weir, Gareth Welsh; S. Muir, C. Renwick, D. Johnstone, A. Piotrowski, D. Suddon, S. Graham, Bruce McNeil, J Linton. Replacements: M. Carryer, C. Bachurzewski, S. Fairbairn, Billy McNeil, B. Donaldson.