Currie 45 - 17 Hawick - Currie win in style

Currie turned on the style to take a massive step towards 
securing RBS Premiership safety with a crushing victory over a Hawick side now facing a battle to save their top-flight status.

Currie's Ruaridh Smith hits a wall of Hawick tacklers. Picture: Jane Barlow

Currie 45 - 17 Hawick

At Malleny Park

SCORERS; Currie: Tries – Weston, J Cox, Cairns, Smith (2), Dominguez, Peacock. Hawick: Tries – Blacklock, J Johnstone. Cons – Renwick (2). Pen – Renwick. Cons – Horne (3), Reynolds (2)

The win extended Currie’s undefeated run to six matches and confirmed the growing maturity of the youngsters in the side, a process that has been facilitated by the contribution of the veterans in the ranks.

Currie coach Ally Donaldson said: “Obviously, it’s a fantastic result for us. I thought, in the second half, we played really good rugby. We are still in a real fight but it’s in our hands. We now have a huge game against Aberdeen next week.”

Hawick should have been buoyed by their performance against Gala the previous weekend, but were strangely disjointed and rarely imposed themselves on the hosts.

Currie set the tone for the afternoon from the outset, although there were 20 minutes on the clock before Ross Weston powered over for the opening score. Further tries from John Cox and Mark Cairns, plus two conversions by George Horne extended the lead before Wullie Blacklock touched down for the visitors and Neil Renwick added the conversion for a 19-7 half time scoreline.

The Currie bonus point came shortly after the restart when Ruaridh Smith raced on to a crossfield kick.

But Hawick battled back with a try from pro James Johnstone, a former Currie player, converted by Renwick.

Renwick then trimmed the deficit to seven points with a penalty. However, the hosts finished strongly and claimed further converted tries from Smith, Joaquim Dominguez and Malcolm Peacock.

The Borderers’ coach Phil Leck was understandably deflated by the performance. “We are in a dogfight now”, he said. “I’m totally disappointed – we just didn’t turn up, didn’t defend and made too many stupid mistakes.”

Currie: G Horne, R Smith, J Dominguez, J Reynolds, E Pollock, J Semple, R Snedden, J Cox, D Cherry, A Hamilton, S Cox, P Neascu, M Vernal, M Cairns, R Weston. Subs: F Watt, G Temple, H Elms, M Peacock

Hawick: N Renwick, N Walker, J Johnstone, G Johnstone, S McLeod, R Hutton, G Cottrell, S Muir, L Gibson, W Blacklock, B McNeill, R McAlpine, S Graham, N McTaggart, K Davies. Subs: L Launders, M Landells, K Willison, L Armstrong, A Weir.

Referee: P Allan.