Bruce McNeil on the ball for Kelso during their 39-18 loss at home to Edinburgh Academical at Poynder Park on Saturday in rugby’s Arnold Clark Premiership (Photo: Steve Cox)Bruce McNeil on the ball for Kelso during their 39-18 loss at home to Edinburgh Academical at Poynder Park on Saturday in rugby’s Arnold Clark Premiership (Photo: Steve Cox)
Bruce McNeil on the ball for Kelso during their 39-18 loss at home to Edinburgh Academical at Poynder Park on Saturday in rugby’s Arnold Clark Premiership (Photo: Steve Cox)

Second derby of season in rugby’s Arnold Clark Premiership next for ​Hawick and Kelso

​Hawick and Kelso will both be looking to bounce back from losses to Central Belt opposition on Saturday when they meet for a Borders derby at the former’s Mansfield Park home ground this coming weekend in rugby’s Arnold Clark Premiership.

​​Hawick lost 32-20 away to Glasgow Hawks at Balgray Stadium and Kelso went down 39-18 hosting Edinburgh Academical at Poynder Park

Those eighth-round results accounted for half of a clean sweep of defeats for the Borders’ representatives in club rugby’s top flight, with Melrose and Selkirk ending up on the wrong sides of their scorelines too, by 45-9 at Ayr and 47-38 at home to Edinburgh’s Heriot’s respectively.

Selkirk are now down one to sixth on 22 points, Melrose down four to eighth on 21, Hawick three lower at ninth on 19 and Kelso static at second from bottom on ten.

Hawick’s tries were scored by right-winger Matt Reid, replacement Morgan Tait and scrum-half Logan Henry, with full-back Kirk Ford adding a conversion and penalty.

Max Crumlish, Paul Cairncross, Finlay Callaghan, Yousuf Shaheen, Scott Steele and Chris Elliott touched down for their Glaswegian hosts, with Andy McLean contributing a conversion.

Kelso’s try-scorers were left-winger Robbie Tweedie and full-back Archie Barbour, with right-winger Dwain Patterson adding a conversion and two penalties.

Touching down for Accies were Ross Cadzow, Gavin Welsh, Richard Thompson, Max Wallace and Alistair Wood, with Cadzow adding four conversions and two penalties.

Kick-off on Saturday is at 3pm and head coach Graham Hogg’s Greens go into it looking to make it two derby wins out of two this campaign, having beaten Selkirk 27-22 at home the weekend before last.

Co-head coaches Nikki Walker and Bruce McNeil’s Kelso – beaten home and away by Hawick last term, by 28-20 in November and 61-7 last September respectively – have also played one derby this premiership season, a 22-12 loss at home to Selkirk in mid-December, as well as a 37-19 Border League win hosting Gala in August.

Kelso director of rugby Neil Hinnigan accepted that the better team had won at Poynder Park, telling Border Rugby TV: “It was a much-deserved win for Accies, and that maybe was always going to be the case with Kelso having so many players out injured and bandaged up.

“It was a game that, up until 55 minutes in, Kelso were doing really well in. We were pretty much in control and 15-10 up just after half-time but an avalanche of tries from Accies, some good play and good handling, just ground us down in the end.

“For the last half-hour, Accies were cerianly the better team and they deserved their five points.”

Hawick try-scorer Logan Henry also readily accepted that his team had been second best, telling the Offside Line rugby news website: “It was a tough day today due to lots of individual errors and maybe a poor mindset and lack of cohesion, but we’ll get back to the drawing board, have some hard discussions around our game today and work hard to fix it.”

Saturday’s derby is a premiership-only fixture, with the reverse game in Kelso on Saturday, March 1, at 3pm, being a double-header counting for the Border League as well.

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