There was a huge amount of anticipation around Mansfield Park yesterday afternoon, as Hawick welcomed Currie Chieftains for round 5 of the Premiership. The game and the lads did not disappoint…..with an intensely physical first half seeing both sides crossing for a solitary score. Hawick’s try coming from the in form Andrew Mitchell, running a peach of a line to arc through the Currie defence, and dot down under the sticks….and the visitors to their credit crossing in the corner, during injury time after a period of sustained pressure, ably repelled until that point by some immense defence from the Robbie Dyes.

Halftime Hawick 10 - 13 Currie Chieftains.

As the second half began, the Mansfield Park faithful could be excused for thinking a ‘down to the wire’ repeat of last seasons Premiership was on the cards, however the players had obviously had a ‘healthy’ team-talk from the coaches and the Greens went to work on the Currie defence. Earlier mistakes were ironed out and the accuracy demanded by themselves was very much in evidence as from a lineout, ball was secured by Connor Sutherland, allowing Fraser Renwick to round the tail and break a couple of tackles on his was to the line.

As the game entered the last quarter Hawick were very much to the fore, dominating the scrum and the contact area….and with the pressure they mounted further tries came from Charlie Welsh, after a sublime chip through by Kyle Brunton, and finally after huge pressure, with the last play of the game,from a short penalty Captain Shawn Muir drive for the line and was awarded the try, to huge cheers from the healthy crowd. The delight on the lads faces at the final whistle was very evident, and well deserved….this was an excellent performance against a very strong Currie side, and scoring 25 unanswered points in the second half a great way to set themselves up for a visit to Riverside Park next week.

Final score : Hawick 35 - 13 Currie Chieftains