Hawick 22
Glasgow Hawks 21
ALAN LORIMER @ Mansfield Park
AT THE END of a hard-fought match there was only one point separating the two sides, but in terms of Premiership survival, Hawick came away with five championship points and Hawks a measly one. Christmas can be cruel as well as merry.
As a consequence, Hawick will go into the festive break feeling much more chipper and secure in mid-table, whereas for Hawks, while the losing bonus point could yet be valuable, they are conscious of still being on the same championship points tally as fellow Premiership strugglers Selkirk.
Hawks might well feel short-changed after being much the better side in the first half and, in the opinion of their coach Phil Smith, being on the wrong side of the referee’s decisions.
Wyre Mobile Scrum
Referring to Hawick’s first try scored from a 50-22 kick from Lee Armstrong, Smith commented: “I would argue that they got a try they shouldn’t have got. The first try, because it wasn’t a 50-22. So quite why the ref gave that, I don’t know. Now, if I watch it back and get it wrong, I apologise, but at the moment, my memory was the scrum was in our half. They passed it back into their half and they’ve kicked it long. That is not a 50-22.”
Smith was also unhappy that a try was not awarded later in the first half when the ball was judged to have been held up by the defence. He said: “Tom Banatvala goes over the line with the ball on his chest and falls on the ball. That’s a try.”
As to the reason for his side’s perilous position in the Premiership, Smith lamented the lack of consistency, saying: “You know, the first half, they were really positive regarding the set piece play, the open play, and most of the defence. It was, in general, very, very good. So it’s in them. The good parts are in them. It’s getting the bad parts just less and getting them to raise a bit more. We just need a bit of luck and a little bit of momentum.”
For Hawick, who were given a lift in the second half by the appearance of replacements Dalton Redpath and Calum Renwick, both of whom made significant impacts after the break, this was very much mission accomplished. The Auld Grey Toon certainly had cause to light up.
Hawick’s head coach Graham Hogg acknowledged that his side had achieved their pre-Christmas objective. “We set a target at the beginning of this four-week block; we knew how important this was going to be to the club to get 16 points out of the last four weeks. We did and I’m massively proud,” admitted Hogg.
Speaking about the game itself, Hogg said: “Helped by the bench, we upped our game after the break. Hawks controlled the first half even though we had the elements. But we turned that on its head; it’s one of those things in this game, you always get another opportunity and in the second half we just went back to type and did exactly what we said we were going to do. We carried hard, we got over the gain line, boys like Calum Renwick and Dalton Redpath coming on at half-time made a massive difference for us.”
Playing with the stiff breeze, Hawick wasted little time in making their opening strike, initiated by a 50-22 from the boot of Armstrong, a quick throw-in resulting in an unconverted try for Grant Huggan, within the first four minutes of the game.
The visitors took their time to reply, but when they did it was impressive, a break by flanker Yousuf Shaheen, followed by a series of forward drives to the Hawick line, ending with the instigator Shaheen powering over and Liam Brims converting for a 7-5 lead.
Hawick had to work hard to fend off another series of Glasgow Hawks’ close-range attacks, the home side’s reward for solid defence being a goal-line drop-out, but a minute later they paid the price of over-keen defence with the sin-binning of Huggan.
Having survived Hawks’ pressure, the Greens applied their own and from a penalty-created line-out the home side moved the ball to the backs before switching the direction of the attack, ending with Armstrong throwing a long pass to Andrew Mitchell for the big centre to romp over for a second unconverted try.
Mitchell crossed again in the first half only for the try to be disallowed for an earlier crossing, but that still meant Hawick trooped into the half-time break in the lead with a slender 10-7 advantage.
Hawick looked to be in charge during the opening minutes of the second half, but a missed touch by Charlie Welsh allowed Hawks to counter-attack and gain a foothold in the Hawick 22. From a scrum the visitors moved the ball skilfully, but it was the pace and strength of prop Tom Banatvala that produced their second try, Brims again converting to give his side a 14-10 lead.
Hawick answered with a spell of excellent handling, laudable in the increasingly worsening conditions, and forced Hawks to concede a penalty, but at the ensuing line-out the Greens failed to control the ball and a chance to reply was gone.
Then, when Hawks hoofed the ball upfield, the visitors sensed an opportunity to exploit an empty backfield only for the wind to carry the ball beyond the extremity of the pitch, resulting in a scrum back in Hawks’ 22.
Hawick used the set scrum possession cleverly, with Armstrong working a clever switch pass to Mitchell for the centre to race through the visitors’ defence for his second try, the conversion attempt for a third time going wide of the target.
A powerful run by Fraser Renwick almost brought a fourth try for Hawick, thwarted only by the Hawks’ scramble defence who managed to haul down the home skipper. But minutes later Hawick turned line-out possession into points and this time it was younger brother Calum Renwick who splintered the Hawks’ defence before laying on a second for Huggan and the bonus try for Hawick, Zach Lewis, taking over as kicker, succeeding with the conversion.
The visitors, however, desperate to eke some points out of the game, forced their way back into the Greens’ red zone and got their reward when second row Max Cumlish crashed over, Brims’ third conversion bringing Hawks within a point of Hawick. But that was how the scoreline remained and it was Hawick who had more reason for festive cheer.

Teams –
Hawick: C Welsh; O Gray, A Mitchell, G Huggan, C McLeod; L Armstrong, Z Lewis; S Muir, F Renwick©, N Little, H Donaldson, S Fairbairn, G Welsh, M Swailes, C Sutherland. Subs used: C Crawley, D Redpath, C Renwick, F Kinnaird, C Riddell, K Brunton, F Douglas.
Glasgow Hawks: E Muirhead; L Jarvie, D Barrie, S Steele, J Couper; L Brims, C Reidy; T Banatvala, P Cairncross©, I Malaulau, R Burke, M Crumlish, C Nolan, Y Shaheen, S Hastings. Subs used: T McTier, D Sweet, M Oliver, A Rutherford, S Lima, M Waugh, J Hastings.
Referee: Chelsea Gillespie

Scorers –
Hawick: Tries: Huggan 2, Mitchell 2; Cons: Lewis.
Glasgow Hawks: Tries: Shaheen, Banatvala, Cumlish; Cons: Brims 3.
Scoring sequence (Hawick first): 5-0; 5-5; 5-7; 10-7 (h-t) 10-12; 10-14; 15-14; 20-14; 22-14; 22-19; 22-21.

Yellow cards –
Hawick: Huggan )(17 mins)

Player-of-the-match: It is often the case these days that a player coming off the bench can make a huge difference to his side’s performance. And that was certainly the case when Dalton Redpath joined the fray for the second half, the former Super6 player showing just why he was able to operate at that level with powerful carries that paved the way for Hawick’s second-half tries.
Talking point: While Hawick can feel more comfortable about retaining their Premiership membership, the plight of Glasgow Hawks is becoming dire. They still have a game in hand over Selkirk, but that is the postponed match against Watsonians. Hawks have three home games and that may be psychologically settling for the Balgray side. But for survival, Hawks may have to work out a way to make the physicality of their big forward pack tell and to look at how to get more out of a potentially strong back line.