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This Saturday originally
being a free slot in the fixture calandar, a friendly
match was arranged with Kelso so both sides would not
lose any momentum for the important League fixtures in
the coming weeks. Following the disappointing draw
against Stewarts Melville last Saturday, it was vital
that Hawick had a good moral boosting win against Kelso
in preparation for next Saturday's match against
Edinburgh Accies.
On a bitterly cold
afternoon at Mansfield Park along with a strong breeze
blowing down the pitch, Hawick had the elements in their
favour in the first half but on the whole failed to make
use of them. Both sides seemed to get bogged down in a
dour forward tussle which produced few scoring
opportunities. On one of the odd occasions that the ball
was shipped out along the back line, Greg Anderson, who
had a good match on the wing, found himself with a
overlap and ran in unopposed for a try near the posts
which Lee Armstrong converted. This was the only scoring
of a poor first half display from both teams.
The second half saw
both teams attempting to play more open rugby but the
poor conditions coupled with cold fingers saw numerous
unforced errors. Slack tackling allowed Kelso to score a
converted try which tied the scores at 7-7. A Lee
Armstrong penalty again gave Hawick the lead at 10-7. In
the final quarter it was Hawick who had the territorial
advantage against the elements and the Kelso defence was
finally breached when Lindsay Gibson forced his way over
for a deserved try which gave Hawick victory at 15
points to 7 albeit very unconvincing ahead of next
Saturday's important league fixture. |
