Hawick maintain momentum

HAWICK rounded off their Super Cup Pool A fixtures with a composed win against Glasgow Hawks at Mansfield Park last Saturday.

The victory – the Robbie Dyes' second in six days – also saw Michael Robertson grab his second brace of touchdowns within a week as the Greens secured a four-try bonus point victory.

Their progress in the competition will now depend on whether Boroughmuir beat Ayr in their final pool match but the tournament has served to raise the confidence of the side and they must now be considered as serious contenders for the Scottish Cup, while the Border League title is also up for grabs.

While Glasgow Hawks are a pale shadow of their double league title success days, they still have a number of quality players, but Hawick showed great defensive qualities to keep them at bay until the final few minutes of the match, but by then the game was won.

Hawks began the match well when Murray Strang slotted a penalty in the fourth minute, but the hosts hit back in fine style two minutes later. Barry Sutherland made the initial break from half-way, this was taken on by John Coutts who, along with Keith Hedley, found themselves in a two-on-one situation. Coutts then showed great self-confidence to go inside his man before crossing the line. Sutherland missed the conversion.

Straight from the kick-off, Hawick were back on the offensive – Hue Scammell causing the damage before he was hauled down just short of the line. From the next phase, Kevin Reid found Michael Robertson who spun off a tackle to score. This time, the conversion was nailed by Sutherland.

Glasgow missed a chance to narrow the gap from the kick-off when the Greens were penalised, with Strang unable to hit the target. But one minute before the interval Strang made amends to make the interval score 12-6.

Ten minutes into the second period, Robertson's scoring streak continued when he picked the ball up from the base of a five-metre scrum to dive over the line. Sutherland added his second conversion.

Hawick then demonstrated great composure to secure their bonus point with the fourth score of the match. A multi-phase forward attack eventually leading to Will Campbell finding a gap in the stubborn Glasgow defence to score.

Although Hawks did manage to pull a try back through Max Evans with a few minutes to play, Hawick were always in control of matters and thoroughly deserved their latest success.