Hawick aim to beat Dundee HSFP for Leck pick-me-up

Hawick coach Phil Leck has had to go into hospital on the weekend his club are playing to get back into the Premiership. Picture: Rob Gray

The Lancashire coach, who took over the helm at the Borders club midway through last season, as they slipped into the second tier, had a serious operation postponed until this week and so has been forced into hospital in what has turned into the most important week in his time at the club.

Club secretary John Thorburn said: “It is really unfortunate for Phil that his op coincided with this week, but this play-off was due to be played on 6 April and with games being off it has unfortunately landed now.

“But Phil has been a driving force at the club in bringing us to this point and the boys want to do it for him and the club now.

“We have played 18 games to get to this stage, ended up level on points with Glasgow Hawks, who have gone straight up, and now we have an opportunity to follow them back.

“It will be tough. Dundee are a British and Irish Cup side and we’re the underdogs so we won’t be expected to win. It’s a new scenario really and feels like we’re going into the unknown, but we have busloads of supporters heading to Meggetland and there is a real buzz in the town after we won our own sevens again last weekend.”

Hawick will be playing their first match in well over a month however, their season having finished against Jed-Forest on 23 March, and are now missing a handful of leading players. Neil Renwick and Rocky Johnstone suffered injuries at Gala and Berwick Sevens in recent weeks, Lee Armstrong and David Lowrie have left to play club rugby in New Zealand and second row Craig Smith is on honeymoon.

But while they are looking up, Dundee are looking down at a final chance to escape relegation and ensure Caledonia retains two sides in the top flight of the Scottish game. It marks the end of an era off the pitch with director of rugby Ian Rankin stepping down after a decade in charge, and handing over to Colin Robertson this summer, so there may be more motivation on Tayside to produce the goods for a popular coach.

Rankin said: “I think a play-off is a good way of measuring if there is a gap between the leagues, and whether the team coming up might yo-yo, but I’d rather it was a two-legged affair with games home and away so that both clubs could really benefit from the excitement and big crowds.

“But it’s tough to fit games in, so we’ve got what we’ve got. We will have a big support coming down from Dundee and the motivation for the guys to stay in Premier One is huge. When we’ve been at full-strength this season we’ve beaten top sides, and played well in the British and Irish Cup, but injuries have really affected our consistency.

“So now it’s down to one game and it’s massive for both clubs. Hawick will be desperate to get back into Premier One, but no-one should underestimate the desire on our guys to remain there.

“We probably have been used to a higher intensity this season than Hawick, but in a one-off match I’ve yet to meet a Border team that doesn’t lift its game. They have nothing to lose and we have quite a lot to lose.”

Clearly, Rankin did not want his final match in charge to be such a highly-charged one with defeat meaning relegation, but that is the result of a highly-competitive top flight and does not diminish his achievements in making Dundee a stronger force in Scottish rugby in recent seasons since he took over a side that had just won promotion from Division Three.

“It’s been a great journey,” he added, looking back on his ten years. “Having had a bit of a kick in the stomach at Murrayfield, after being given the poisoned chalice of the merged Edinburgh Reivers, and trying to pull together players, coaches and supporters who didn’t want to come together, I could easily have walked away from the game.

“But Dundee gave me back my faith in rugby, and myself, and the efforts the players put in every week alongside their work, studies etc have been a privilege to watch and help to play a part in.

“We have a lot of talent, but, like every club, I think our guys need respected a bit more.

“With the right opportunities a lot of these boys can go further, but, for now, for me, we have a big game to win because I want to be handing over to Colin a Premier One side. We need  Dundee in among the big boys, but we have to earn that place.”

Dundee HSFP: J Urquhart; A McLean, R Lavery, H Duthie, C Bowie; J Steele, A Dymock; N Dymock (capt), D Russell, A Brown, A Redmayne, C Cumming, D Levison, I Wilson, R McIver. Subs: S Longwell, G Robertson, A Linton, H Livingstone, R Lemon.

Hawick: A Weir; S McLeod, J Coutts, G Hogg, N McColm; R Hutton, G Cottrell; S Muir, L Gibson, L Launders, N Mactaggart, K Willison, S Graham, R Scott, K Davies. Subs: M Landels, H Scammell, B Keown, R Smith, G Anderson, D Landels.r.

Referee: P Allan.