The Greens travelled to Balgray on Saturday to face an ever improving Glasgow Hawks side who had taken the spoils against Heriots Blue last week.

Hawick however, we’re in no mood to let momentum slip with Marr’s visit to Mansfield Park on the horizon, and the lads turned up the heat with a superb all round performance showing both clinical attacking prowess and outstanding defensive structure.

Hawks with a very settled side under the canny coaching eye of Andy Hill were caught in midfield when a backs move broke down and the ever present Calum Renwick pounced on a loose ball, scooping up and deftly kicking through, for Lee Armstrong to control and outstrip the defence for the first try. Minutes later a smart blindside move from a strong scrum on the Hawick 10m line, saw Jae Linton pick up and after handing off the Hawks defence, gallop up the touchline then drawing the fullback he unselfishly fed Cal Renwick who sprinted to the corner, evading the desperate Hawks defence.

Hawks then gained some territory from which they won a couple of penalties one of which was converted to bring the score to 3-14, however Hawick were in no mood to let the tempo slip and pressing the Hawks line, they won a penalty which Lightfoot took quickly feeding them ever willing Andrew Mitchell who pin-balled his way over the line, taking several defenders with him. Kirk Ford once again on target with the conversion to take it to 3-21.

Hawks to their credit crossed for an unconverted try before half time which took the score to 8-21.

The second half saw the best spell from home side as they brought the scores within 6 points with a converted try, however a quiet word under the sticks from Captain Shawn Muir saw Hawick turn up the pressure and take the game out of the Hawks reach with some fantastic disciplined and cohesive rugby. A penalty from the ever reliable Kirk Ford preceded tries from first Charlie Welsh wide out in the right following a snap attack from debutant Ben Scott at scrum half, as he fed Jae Linton to in turn fed Welsh, for the bonus point try.

Then as Welsh and others took a well deserved rest, the Hawks may have though the introduction of Hawick’s bench would afford them a respite, however that wasn’t the case, as more of the same followed, and after some terrific forward rushes, slick hands saw the ball fed wide to Ronan McKean who forced his way over in the corner, to the delight of the whole squad. Final score 15-36
This win means Hawick’s fine run of 7 wins on the bounce, brings them back to Mansfield Park on Saturday next, when the lads will need no incentive whatsoever to look to reverse the only defeat they have had this season, at Fullerton against Marr RFC in week 2.

Listening in to the huddle after the game it was fantastic to hear the comments from coaches and players alike. Make no mistake this performance was something special and with players putting their hands up from the bench and indeed from the Force, who themselves had a terrific win over Selkirk ‘A’ on Friday evening, the lads in possession of the Green jersey know they must continue to perform at the highest level.

Well done to the players, coaches and backroom staff….roll on Tuesday 😉💚🏉#OneGaneAtATime.