Hawick stretch undefeated run to ten

HAWICK extended their unbeaten run in this season’s Premiership to 10 matches with a 26-7 victory over Border rivals JedForest at Mansfield Park yesterday afternoon. It was their ninth consecutive win since drawing with Selkirk in round one of the campaign.

Former Scotland Under20s captain and Glasgow Warriors academy player Rhys Tait, Lewis Ferguson and Gareth Welsh all scored tries which were converted by Kirk Ford as the Greens built up a commanding lead, but it wasn’t until veteran prop Shawn Muir scored in the final minute that the bonus-points victory was secured.

Meanwhile, Edinburgh Accies dropped from second to third in the table by losing 42-29 away to last season’s champions Marr, who were in desperate need of a morale-boosting win after losing their last four games on the bounce.

Currie Chieftains are now second after they bounced back from a rocky start at home to score a flurry of three tries just before the break which set them up for a convincing 34-5 win over bottom-of-the-table Musselburgh.

Despite having lost two matches so far in this league campaign, the Malleny Park men are now only one point off the pace because they have picked up 10 bonuspoints to Hawick’s five.

Selkirk moved into the fourth play-off spot thanks to their 29-18 away win over Glasgow Hawks, while Heriot’s also won on the road with a 44-31 scoreline at GHA putting some breathing space between themselves and Musselburgh.

While the table does not read well for the East Lothian men, Derek O’Riordan’s side have stayed competitive and could yet pull themselves out of the quagmire.

“I said to the players that I am sick to death of being valiant losers,” said the coach. “It didn’t help that we were the only club that was tagged as relegation favourites so the players just need some self-belief.”