Coach blasts ‘awful’ display by Hawick

Hawick were left hanging by a thread as they were destroyed in front of their home crowd on Saturday at Mansfield Park, which is no longer a fortress for visiting clubs.

Head coach George Graham saw his side swept aside. Much of the defeat self-inflicted, with two yellow cards for Stuart Graham and

Deaglan Lightfoot, before a late rally offered poor consolation to the home support.

The loss of Shawn Muir, through injury, has knocked the heart out of the Hawick pack but the loss of one man is not a defence for the club,

which is struggling to match the best in the Premiership as Marr continued to lead the challenge with a six-try victory that spoke volumes for it driving power and ability to put sides to the sword.

Graham has probably never seen to be as angry and frustrated as he first spoke at length with his other coaching staff before blasting what

he called an “awful performance”.

He added: “It is a massive concern and we were absolutely woeful. We could not hold the ball for any length of time, made silly errors and we had guys sent to the sinbin.

“They ship in three tries, and the game was finished. We are not just at the races and our discipline was poor,” he said.

“We are waiting on Muir coming back, but one man will not make a difference. I am ‘down’ at present.”

Hawick did hit back late in the game but did not start playing until it was too late. But there is no doubt that two yellow cards had a huge influence in the first half.

Marr had Robert Brown sinbinned in the second half but, by then, the game was over.

The Marr pack set up their opening score – after Ali Weir had given Hawick the lead with a penalty – when the referee awarded a penalty try

and handed Lightfoot a yellow card to follow Stuart Graham into the sin-bin.

Marr’s rapport was immediate as Iosefo Turaga, Richard Dalgleish and Gregor Paxton added tries for a 31-3 interval lead, with Colin Sturgeon adding the conversions to his penalty.

Turaga and Colin Bickerstaff touched down after the break and, despite scores by Andrew Mitchell and Kyle Brunton, and one Weir conversion, Hawick were left chasing the match, despite the sides finishing level at 15-15 apiece in the second half.

Hawick: A. Weir; R. McKean, A. Mitchell, G. Huggan, L. Gordon Wooley; K. Brunton, D. Lightfoot; D. Johnston, C. Renwick, C. Geer, S. Fairbairn,

D. Suddon, S. Graham, J. Linton, B. McNeil. Replacements: M. Carryer, R. Twogood, M. Renwick, K. Ford, G. Welsh.