Front-row shortage forces Hawick to pull out of Glasgow Hawks fixture

MELROSE's slim hopes of being crowned Scottish club champions at the Greenyards this afternoon have disappeared with Hawick's withdrawal from their Premier A fixture with Glasgow Hawks due to a front row crisis.

The Hawick club sent out a statement yesterday morning saying that they were postponing the game due to a lack of front rows, through injury and unavailability, having scoured clubs in Hawick and across the Borders for an emergency loan player to no avail. It is the SRU's Championship Committee that has to rule on whether a match can be postponed and, after taking soundings from both clubs, they agreed that the game would not go ahead. The championship committee will decide in midweek on whether to rearrange the game or sanction Hawick and award five points to Hawks.

Hawick are not involved in relegation or title issues, so any reduction of points will have no effect on this season.

Peter Wright, the Glasgow Hawks Director of Rugby, was disappointed, revealing that he had offered Hawick a prop but had that declined, and said that, were the SRU to insist that the game be rescheduled, the only date available was Saturday, 16 April, which is the same day as the Hawick Sevens and the Scottish Cup final.

Wright said: "I have every sympathy with Hawick because it is frustrating when you have injuries to front row players, and I do not agree with fielding players in that position who have no experience of playing there. We offered them a prop but they didn't want that.

"We wanted the game played for rugby reasons, but also because we have catering for hospitality already bought in and around 30 'fathers and sons' coming for a special day. And the difficulty with rescheduling the game is that we have committed to play in Melrose Sevens next weekend, we play Currie on the 23rd of the month and, after that, the pitches at Anniesland are lost to us because cricket takes over. So the only free date here is the 16th, which is Hawick Sevens and the cup final.

Melrose's chances of ending the 14-year wait for another championship title today were always slim as it relied on their closest challengers, Hawks, Ayr and Currie all losing and/or failing to claim bonus points. Craig Chalmers' side are at home to Dundee HSFP this afternoon and if they win with a bonus point will move to 70 points, ten clear of Hawks with a game to play.

However, lurking below that pair are Ayr and Currie, who each have three games remaining, and before today's kick-off were just seven and ten points off the pace respectively.

Currie are away to Boroughmuir this afternoon, with Ayr also in the capital, to face Heriot's. Currie then play Hawks in a fortnight and finish their campaign away to Ayr on Saturday, 30 April.

Melrose and Ayr were due to meet in the league on 16 April, but the Borderers have secured their place in a fourth successive cup final at Murrayfield and Ayr could join them, the west coast men facing Boroughmuir next Saturday in the remaining semi-final. The key match in Premier B is at Rubislaw where Aberdeen Grammar FPs host Watsonians, with the winners earning a place in Premier One. Stirling County, Edinburgh Accies and Gala are already safely in the top flight for next season, with Selkirk and West of Scotland relegated and Peebles consigned to another season in Premier Two.

Joining them from Premier C will be Jed-Forest, Hillhead/Jordanhill, Biggar and Stewart's Melville, the Edinburgh club stepping up after five wins from six games to pip the off-form Falkirk. Kirkcaldy are still fighting to avoid the drop into Premier Three, but they need to beat Falkirk away and claim a bonus point, and hope that Kelso lose at their Border rivals Jed-Forest and fail to grab a bonus point.