Premiership-winning touchdown for Hawick voted try of season in Scottish Rugby poll

That verdict was delivered at this year’s Scottish Rugby National Community Recognition Awards ceremony, held at Edinburgh’s Murrayfield Stadium on Friday.

McKean’s try picked up 56% of votes cast in a poll conducted via the sport’s governing body’s Twitter account.

The 22-year-old scored that try, securing the Greens’ first premiership title since 2002 and extending an unbeaten run stretching back over a year, after March’s final, held at Hawick’s Mansfield Park, had gone past the 80-minute mark with the hosts two men down and trailing their visitors by 18-14.

Second-row Dalton Redpath having been yellow-carded for the second time on 67 minutes and stand-off Kyle Brunton following him to the sin-bin 11 minutes later, Hawick were reduced to 13 men as a Kody McGovern try converted by Jamie Forbes put Currie in front just ahead of full-time.

One last throw of the dice with the clock on red saw Hawick make the most of a penalty advantage, however, a pass by Australian centre Ethan Reilly finding McKean in space out on the left wing to cross the line to take the score to 19-18 in favour of head coach Matty Douglas’s hosts, with a Kirk Ford conversion making it 21-18.

The winger, also selected by Douglas for his South of Scotland inter-district championship squad last month, was one of two winners from the region at the awards, Borders Rugby Referees’ Society member Steven Dyer being named as community match official of the season.

McKean wasn’t able to make it to Friday’s ceremony but Douglas was there to collect his award.

Looking back on his trophy-winning touchdown – his 11th of the season, followed by another for the South – McKean, an engineering technician for Scottish Borders Council’s traffic and road safety department by trade, said: “If you’re from Hawick, that was quite a try, and I think I was backed quite well by the community in the vote because of its importance. It was massive really.

“I can mind it well, to be fair. I’d been kind of looking for the sort of ball that Ethan put over a couple of times and it eventually came.

“I can remember scoring and I hurt my shoulder as I did it.

“Folk were going absolutely mental afterwards. There were kids on the pitch and all my pals were running about.

“It was kind of an odd one because we were down two men, giving them a numerical advantage, but, even though it’s my name on the try, there were 12 other boys on the pitch making space for me and I just had to finish it off. Currie just couldn’t fold quick enough.

“I can’t say now that I knew we were going to win it at that point, to be honest with you. As soon as they scored after Kyle went off, I think everybody thought it might not happen, but then Shaun Fairbairn got the turnover from the kick-off and it lifted everyone, with us being at Mansfield, and there was a lot of energy around and we got lucky.

“You could play that game again however many times and a Hawick win probably wouldn’t happen, but it was a special game, certainly right up there with the best I’ve known.”