National Shield: Hawick YM left with underdog tag

IT is strange that any side who has won 23 out of 23 should go into any match as underdogs, but that is the position Hawick YM find themselves in ahead of this afternoon's National Shield final (2pm).

The Borderers have had a great season under the tutelage of the experienced Jammy McFarlane, sweeping all before them in National Two to secure the title. They will be full of confidence heading into the match with Lasswade as a result, but the Midlothian men themselves are on a high having won the National One title seven days ago to complete their fourth promotion in five years.

Hawick YM back-row Craig Robson said: "We have all really enjoyed being part of the team this season. Last year was a bit of a struggle in terms of numbers and to be honest we did well just to stay in National Two, but during pre-season a lot of guys joined the club or came back from elsewhere. Once we won our first few matches we thought we were on the way to a good season, but we could not have imagined we would come into a Murrayfield final undefeated."

For YM expect Lee Armstrong to pull the strings from stand-off, while Dean McCracken is a quality performer in the centre and captain Billy Lilly is one of the few survivors from the team that lost to Perthshire in the Bowl final seven years ago.

Lasswade have won 24 out of the 26 matches they have played this season and coach Dave Cockburn hopes they can defend the title they won 12 months ago."This group of boys just keeps growing in confidence and I could not have asked more from them this season. We are buzzing after winning the league recently," he said.

The main man to watch out for in the Lasswade line-up is scrum-half Neil Clark who has scored a hatful of tries this term and has forged a good understanding with Nick Wood at stand-off.

The back-row of Richard Borthwick, Craig Quigley and Gavin Brown will also be key with the latter having recovered from a broken nose to start at No 8.

Lasswade

15 J Carmichael

14 K Smith

13 J Elliot

12 B Hennessey

11 N Gray

10 N Wood

9 N Clark

1 D Robertson

2 G Cook

3 M Billingham (c)

4 D Grant

5 D Hearn

6 R Borthwick

8 G Brown

7 C Quigley

Subs

16 J Taylor

17 R Mackenzie

18 N Durie

19 G Sharp

20 B Smith

21 A Elliot

22 R Gladstone

Hawick YM

15 A Weir

14 C Ritson

13 S McLeod

12 D McCracken

11 G Despot

10 L Armstrong

9 B Campbell

1 B Lilly (c)

2 G Douglas

3 A Turnbull

4 S Mabon

5 L Mallin

6 C Robson

8 R Gibson

7 S Hill

Subs

16 N McColm

17 G Welsh

18 S Despot

19 G Cannon

20 R Halliday

21 R Taylor

22 J Tinlin