No clowning as Harlequins run the show

Penicuik 0, Hawick Harlequins 60
Hawick's Ross Nichol, in headguard, scored a hat-trick of tries for the Quins (picture by Bill McBurnie)Hawick's Ross Nichol, in headguard, scored a hat-trick of tries for the Quins (picture by Bill McBurnie)
Hawick's Ross Nichol, in headguard, scored a hat-trick of tries for the Quins (picture by Bill McBurnie)

Quins travelled to Penicuik with 11 changes to the side which had beaten Berwick a week earlier, which gave some of the squad the chance to claim a regular starting place.

And, win a 60-0 rout of their Midlothian hosts, plenty players looked to have staked a claim.

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After just three minutes, the front row of Craig Richardson, Alan Douglas and Ian Thomson continued their good form by getting the upper hand on a five-metre scrum and pushed their opponents over the line to allow to Liam Nichol to pounce for the first try.

Ross Anderson added a second try following good handling by Neil Douglas, Nicky Laidlaw and Graeme Lothian.

Adam Hall, who was lively at full back, ran in a good individual score from halfway and a Liam Lawrence try secured the bonus point with a quarter of the match gone.

Penicuik nevertheless weren’t about to lie down as they started to win more possession and slow down the visitors’ ball to prevent any further scores in the first half.

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Turning round with a 22-0 lead, the Quins pack came to the fore and the back five forwards started to raise the tempo of the match, with some sparkling interplay and strong running.

Ross Nichol scored a well-taken try after a neat offload from Scott Anderson and, shortly afterwards, good passing between Craig Richardson, Liam Nichol and Deaglan Lightfoot led to Ricky Kiore scoring a fine try, quickly followed by Kiore’s second try after good play by brothers Adam and Bryan Hall.

Liam Nichol scored his second try and Ross Nichol added two more scores to complete his hat-trick. Adam Hall completed the scoring with his fifth conversion of the match.

It was an impressive second-half performance from the whole Quins squad but a special mention went to the trio of Liam Nichol, Rickie Kiore and Ross Nichol, who scored seven of their team’s 10 tries.

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The competition for places is increasing every week, which will provide the coaches with some tough selection decisions in nearly every position over the coming weeks.

The players are constantly raising their standards, with the set piece and defence being particularly impressive over the last few games.

It was the third consecutive match without conceding a single point – a record the players will be hoping to keep up for the visit of Bargoed.

The match is due to be played on the new 3G pitch on Friday, kick-off 5pm.

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Hawick Harlequins: A. Hall, B. Hall, G. Lothian, R. Anderson, N. Anderson, N. Douglas, D. Lightfoot, C. Richardson, A. Douglas, I.Thomson, M. Renwick, L. Nichol, N. Laidlaw, R. Nichol, R. Kiore, L. Lawrence, S. Anderson, S. Robson, F. Stevenson

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