Hawick 19 - 19 Stirling County: Battling Hawick earn draw against County

Hawick halted a worrying sequence of defeats in the RBS Premiership by coming from behind to earn a draw against Stirling on Saturday while simultaneously denting County’s new-found confidence.

Whether this result will turn the tide for bottom-placed Hawick remains to be seen but certainly they can take much from an urgent second performance that tamed what had been a dominant Stirling pack in the opening period of play.

Stirling looked to have the match under control after their forward pack had bossed the frontal exchanges creating three penalty chances for kicker Brian Archibald who also converted a first half close range try by prop Gary Mountford to give the visitors a 16-6 interval advantage.

What was baffling, though, was Stirling’s limited use of a backline that contained five under 20/21 caps. “We play a forward-orientated game. The backs tend to get the scraps of possession when the forwards are finished with it” admitted Eddie Pollock, the Stirling coach.

If Hawick had looked slaughter house material in the first half then their dynamic showing in the third quarter rapidly changed that view and the balance of the match as stand-off Lee Armstrong kicked a third penalty goal and then converted a forwards-created try by replacement Rory Sutherland to level the scores.

Stirling regrouped and turned late pressure into points with an Archibald penalty. But, in injury time, County were penalised at the contact area, allowing Armstrong to square the match.

Scorers: Hawick: Try: Sutherland. Con: Armstrong. Pens: Armstrong (4). Stirling County: Try: G Mountford. Con: Archibald. Pens: Archibald (4).

Hawick: N McColm; G Anderson, G Johnstone, G Hogg, S Anderson; L Armstrong, G Cottrell; N Little, L Gibson, B Mcneil, K Willison, B Keown, N McTaggart, R Hogg, K Davies. Subs used R Sutherland, H Scammell, D Landels, L Lawrence.

Stirling County: B Addison; G Lindsay, D Gilmour, B Archibald, R Aitken; S Edwards, S Kennedy; M McDonald, A Moffat, G Mountford, C Deacons, R McAlpine, R Boswell, S Swindall. Subs used: A Simpson, S Raby, J Mountford, B Barsanti, C Robertson.

Referee: J Meredith.