Earlston 0

EAST REGION CUP FIRST ROUND

HAWICK Linden comprehensively defeated East Division Two leaders Earlston on Saturday at Wilton Lodge Park, showing the mighty gulf that lies between the two regional leagues.

On a soft pitch and with a muddy ball, Linden served up some lovely running rugby which completely blew Earlston away in the opening half, while half-time positional changes, an erratic ref and deteriorating pitch slowed down traffic to the visitors' line in the second.

A burst by captain Lee Stewart set up the opening try for Darrel Gray before Craig Black got in on the act by latching onto a Steven Bouglas cross-kick. Bouglas then broke from his own half for a fine solo effort, which he followed up with another minutes later after some fine work by flanker Rory Smith.

Play was all one way as Linden ran the ball on every occasion. A nice break by Brian Wear saw the stand-off scoot round his opposite number to go in at posts before forwards and backs united to allow Bouglas to grab his hat trick.

The good interplay continued and Black shot through a gap in defence to pick his second try and Barrie Keown's perfect pass to Greg Bouglas resulted in a score in corner. Graeme Anderson slotted all three conversions.

Anderson was next on the scoresheet when he broke a desperate covering tackle to score and convert himself.

A break by Jamie Scott allowed Greg Bouglas an easy run to the corner and his second try while a rumble up by forwards took Gray over for his second.

This victory sees Linden take on local rivals Hawick Harlequins in the second round in a fortnight's time at Volunteer Park – also a reunion day for Linden ex-players.