In what turned out to be a typically fiesty Border derby, Hawick overcame a determined Kelso side to ultimately take the 5 points and return home to Mansfield to regroup and prepare for next weeks visit to Mansfield Park of Edinburgh Accies.

Following an incredibly successful celebratory dinner in the hallowed turf of Mansfield Park, the night before, to complete the weekend, Hawick ran out wearing a specially commissioned retro strip, of Green jerseys and white shorts. This being kindly donated by ex President Rory Bannerman.

……and the Hawick lads needed to call on the ‘never say die’ spirit of the fabled ‘Green Jersey’ as Poynder Park was in truth a fairly hostile cauldron on Saturday, with a very vocal crowd letting the referee and linesman know exactly what they thought of each and every decision made.

Hawick drew first blood, following a drive by the pack which saw captain Shawn Muir smartly dot down, the try converted by Kirk Ford who was making his 100th appearance for the Dyes.

Kelso’s reply was swift with a catch and drive try from a lineout, the successful conversion tying the scores at 7-7.

Following this, Hawick took the game to Kelso and when Shawn Muir found himself in space he knew the way to the line. Ford once again nailing the conversion to make the score 7-14.

Hawick then increased their lead following swift hands, and a copybook Andrew Mitchell step and acceleration through the home defence, with Kirk Ford once again deadly from the tee.

To their credit. Kelso continued to press for a score before halftime however as the crowd roared them on, the Hawick defence held firm and at the interval the Hawick men led by 7-21.

As the second half began, the teams traded scores, as first Kelso and then Hawick (through another peach from Andrew Mitchell), crossed to bring the score to 15-28.

Unfortunately, following a rash and mistimed tackle by Gareth Welsh Hawick found themselves down to 14 men for the next 10 minutes, during which time Kelso picked up their third try of the day.

Hawick were then dealt a further blow as they found themselves reduced to 13 men when hooker Ross Graham had the red card shown to him, looking particularly bemused by the decision.

This however seemed to spark a reaction in the Hawick side as a few wise words from skipper Shawn Muir saw the Hawick pack turn up the heat and pinning Kelso back in their 22, they drew scrum penalty after scrum penalty from the opposition. After winding down the clock with this pressure the final whistle came with the score at 20-28.

Not the prettiest, game with four cards (Kelso 📒📒 & Hawick 📒📕), showing the nature of the encounter, however winning ugly and a bonus point win at that, allows the Greeks to maintain their place at the top of the Premiership table, and await the visit of Edinburgh Accies this weekend.

Special mention must go to Stuart Graham playing his 200th game for Hawick who a particularly good game, and together with Kirk Ford who was making his 100th appearance they were calm heads in a very difficult game.

Apologies from this photographer for the inferior quality photos…….the fading light, and floodlight situation was a real headache…..’Teachers Rpeort’…..’must do better’