Updated: Late try wins first rugby premiership title for Hawick for 21 years

Besides the hard way of all-or-nothing play-offs against sides up to 29 points worse off, there’s an even harder way – gifting the opposition a numerical advantage of two players, thanks to uncharacteristic indiscipline, and surrendering a four-point lead six minutes from time – and that latter option was the route taken by Hawick against Currie Chieftains in this year’s final on Saturday.

A 67th-minute red card for second-rower Dalton Redpath followed by stand-off Kyle Brunton’s sin-binning nine minutes later gave head coach Matty Douglas’s Greens a mountain to climb to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat and claim their first premiership title since 2002, and 13th altogether, at their Mansfield Park home ground but they defied those odds to deny Currie at the death.

A Ronan McKean try right at the end of the game converted by Kirk Ford with the last kick of the ball saw Currie end up beaten finalists for the second year in a row and sparked a pitch invasion by jubilant home fans.That conversion gave the hosts, captained by Shawn Muir, a three-point margin of victory in the end but much of the match was as close-run a thing as the tightest of their 17 wins this season, such as by 13-12 away to Edinburgh Academical in September, as they fell behind no fewer than three times, by 11-3 at one point.

Hawick’s only other try was touched down by Fraser Renwick just ahead of half-time, with Ford also kicking three penalties.

Their Edinburgh opposition’s tries were scored by former Duns, Kelso, Melrose and Southern Knights winger Iain Sim and Kody McGovern, with Jamie Forbes adding a conversion and two penalties.

Saturday’s victory was Hawick’s 20th on the bounce – 17 of them in the premiership, two in the play-offs, and one in this season’s Scottish cup versus Jed-Forest – and extends their current unbeaten run to 11 months and 22 matches.

Douglas, 27, was delighted by his side’s late flourish, telling Borders Rugby TV afterwards: “Saturday was a rollercoaster of emotions.

“As a coach, I’ve never felt emotions like that, in the last couple of minutes, before.

“As finals go, it was a fantastic spectacle. It had everything.

“The game itself was a battle for 80 minutes. Both teams left nothing on the park. Credit to Currie, they put in a massive, massive effort. For the whole of the first half, they were the better team, and in the last ten minutes, they put real pressure on us, so they can hold their heads up high.

“For us, it was a poor first half. At times, we didn’t really rise to the occasion.

“Currie had done their homework and they played at a high tempo, just as quick as possible, and caught a few cracks in our defence that hadn’t been there the rest of the season.

“Our score before half-time was a massive turning point due to the fact that we’d never really dealt a blow until then. We were three points down and we’d had probably about 10% of the possession, but we were still in the game and we felt that we could then really stamp our authority on it, and in the second half, we did that.

“Rugby’s rugby and we then suffered a red card and then a yellow on top of that, so for the last 12 minutes, we were down to 13 men and Currie just threw everything at us and they finally got their breakthrough with a minute left on the clock, so we were staring down the barrel of a gun.

“The message we put out was just to get down the other end and try and force a turnover, just throw the kitchen sink at it and show a bit of character, and we did force a turnover and we kept the ball for 20-odd phases.

“Ethan Reilly put in an unbelievable pass under pressure to Ronan McKean and the big man finished off in the corner. He still had a bit to do, so I couldn’t be any happier for him. He put in a massive amount of work.

“The team overall showed huge character and they played for that jersey at the end and that’s probably what got us through the game.

“It’s a massive achievement and I couldn’t be any prouder of the players, the rest of the coaches, the back-room team and everybody at the club.

“I’m just glad we’ve been able to bring a bit of good history back to the club. It’s been 21 long years.”​

​Hawick: Kirk Ford, Charlie Welsh, Ethan Reilly, Andrew Mitchell, Ronan McKean, Kyle Brunton, Hector Patterson, Shawn Muir, Fraser Renwick, Nick Little, Connor Sutherland, Dalton Redpath, Stuart Graham, Calum Renwick, Jae Linton. Replacements: Matt Carryer, Ruaridh MacLeod, Ross Graham, Lewis Ferguson, Gareth Welsh, Grant Huggan, Shaun Fairbairn.

Currie Chieftains: Charlie Brett, Kody McGovern, DJ Innes, Greg Cannie, Iain Sim, Jamie Forbes, Gregor Christie, Chris Anderson, Ryan Stewart, Cairn Ramsay, Will Inglis, Ewan Stewart, Ali McCallum, Gregor Nelson, Rhys Davies. Replacements: Jamie Drummond, Jacob Ramsay, Arran Cameron, Michael Vernel, Patrick Boyer, Adam Hall, James McCaig.