Selkirk’s hopes of ending losing streak in Tennent’s Premiership blown away by Glasgow Hawks

Already missing skipper Ewan MacDougall through illness, the Souters’ cause was further hampered by second-half injuries to full-back Ryan Cottrell, No 8 Andrew Cochrane and centre Ben Pickles.

Play against Glasgow Hawks was held up for several minutes while Cottrell, only just back playing after being sidelined for 17 weeks by a shoulder injury, was stretchered from the field with a torn medial collateral ligament.

Cochrane, suffering a suspected dislocated kneecap, and Pickles, having sustained a head knock, followed Cottrell off the pitch for medical attention soon afterwards, and the Glaswegians took advantage of Selkirk being reduced to 13 men to build up a lead.

Despite playing with the wind at their backs in the first half, Selkirk struggled to win any meaningful possession in the game’s opening exchanges.

After 10 minutes, spilled lineout ball on Selkirk’s own throw-in saw Hawks launch a swift counter-attack, with their wing Ronan Joy crossing for a try.

Despite camping near the visitors’ 22 for long spells, handling errors and turnovers hampered Selkirk’s progress until, in the 31st minute, fly-half Callum Anderson managed to dummy his way over in the corner for a touchdown, levelling the scores at 5-5.

After the interval, Selkirk went behind to a bizarre score. A downfield kick from Hawks looked to be going over the dead-ball line but remained just in play. Home skipper Ross Nixon appeared to have his hands on the ball, but Matthew Stewart rushed in to touch down and referee Ben Blain awarded a try.

In the 51st minute, Selkirk managed to draw level with an opportunist try from prop Luke Pettie, his first of the season, but a Stewart penalty in the final minutes of the match edged Hawks 13-10 ahead.

Just when it looked as though Selkirk would secure a consolation losing bonus point, a loose pass allowed Harry Hughes to gather the ball on the right-hand touchline and sprint over for the visitors’ third try.

That defeat, their seventh on the trot, leaves Selkirk second bottom of the table with 22 points from 16 games, 13 points clear of basement side Aberdeen Grammar but having played one match more.

Next up for head coach Scott Wight’s side is a Border League game at Melrose this coming Friday, with kick-off at 7.30pm.

Their two remaining premiership games are away to Aberdeen Grammar on Saturday, February 19, and at home to Glasgow Hutchesons’ Aloysians on Saturday, March 5.

Selkirk forwards coach Darren Hoggan said afterwards: “Hawks were better at keeping possession and played with more tempo than us.

“Our injuries didn’t help, but you can’t gift two soft tries as we did in the second half and expect to win a match.

“I was pleased with the way Declan Broatch performed when he came off the bench to make his debut and he carried ball well.

“The boys know they’ll have to get stuck in at training this week and bounce straight back for Friday night’s game at Melrose.”

A plus-point for Selkirk was the return of prop Zen Szwagrzak, the Polish international having last played in their opening league fixture, a 32-21 win against Musselburgh.

Jed-Forest also lost at the weekend, going down 46-5 away to Edinburgh’s Currie Chieftains, their only impression on the scoresheet being an unconverted try by Mason Cullen.

That loss to the table-toppers leaves the Jedburgh side seventh in the premiership on 26 points from 15 games.

Their next match is at home to Glasgow Hutchesons’ Aloysians on Saturday, February 19, with kick-off at 3pm.