Hawick glad to get back to winning ways in Borders derby v Melrose after 93-0 hiding against Ayr

The Greens’ 39-29 victory at the Greenyards at the weekend, following on from one by 36-17 in the reverse fixture at Mansfield Park in February, leaves them and their hosts as they were in the table, sixth and seventh respectively.

That’s slap-bang in the middle of the region’s four-strong representation in Scottish club rugby’s top flight, Selkirk being fifth, on 60 points from 20 games, and Kelso eighth, on 42 from 21.

Head coach Graham Hogg’s Hawick are now on 50 points from 20 fixtures and joint opposite numbers Scott Wight and Iain Chisholm’s Melrose on 51 from 21.

Touching down for the visitors were outside-centre Andrew Mitchell at the double, replacement Finlay Douglas, hooker Fraser Renwick and inside-centre Lee Armstrong, with full-back Kirk Ford converting all five of those tries and also kicking two penalties.

Their hosts’ tries were scored by left-winger Keiran Clark twice over, No 8 Will Ferrie, full-back Morgan Gabe and fly-half Roly Brett, with Clark adding two conversions.

Next up for Hawick is a home game against fourth-placed Currie Chieftains this Friday, with kick-off at 7.30pm, and for Melrose it’s a visit from already-relegated basement side Musselburgh the day after, with kick-off at 3pm, both those fixtures having been rescheduled from January due to pitches being frozen at the time.

September’s reverse fixtures for those two matches yielded a 36-31 defeat for Hawick in Edinburgh and a 51-13 win for Melrose in East Lothian.

Hawick captain Shawn Muir was delighted to see his side get back to winning ways after the previous Saturday’s 93-0 spanking, telling Borders Rugby TV afterwards: “I’m absolutely proud of the boys. I couldn’t be prouder. It’s a huge honour to be part of that team.

“Last weekend was tough mentally and emotionally. After that defeat, we had a few tough days, but we had some honest chats on Tuesday at training and that’s where today started.

“We went 24-15 down at one point and, after last week, most teams would have just thrown the towel in, but the boys were absolutely outstanding.

“It was just sheer heart and playing for the jersey. The green jersey still means a hell of a lot to us, so we were delighted to get the win for everybody who came to watch us.”

Melrose scrum-half Douglas Crawford added: “We knew Hawick were going to want to rectify things from last weekend and credit to them, they came out of the traps firing.

“We thought that if we could weather that initial storm, we could get a foothold in the game and we did that in parts, but in the second half, they just found a way to stay in it, thanks to ill-discipline from us.

“When they got chances, they took them, and ultimately we didn’t, so we left a few points out there. It was an 80-minute performance from them and we probably took our foot off the gas.”