Weakened Hawick squad defeated by Reds menace

Hawick Linden....................8

In their second Pool B game of the Border Junior Cup, the Linden fell to defeat by a good Peebles Reds side at The Gytes.

Late sickness bug call-offs added to festive time unavailability meant it was a depleted squad which made the trip, writes Gary Alexander.

The home team scored after three minutes through full-back Buster Davidson, with Neil Pate converting.

After some Linden pressure, Kris Rowley opened their account with a penalty goal. Peebles added three further first half tries, two by scrum-half David Collins, together with two Pate conversions.

The Royal Blues ended the opening half well and gained reward when Ryan Toogood finished off a good forward drive and Peebles lost J. Atkinson to the bin.

Turning around 26-8 in front, Peebles emptied their bench. The Linden came more into the game with some good offloading by the whole team with the Hair twins particularly prominent.

In spite of their efforts, the visitors couldn’t break the Reds defence and it was the home team who were to score two further touch downs through centre Dan Edwards and Pate.

Although the match finished with the Linden pushing for a try, they couldn’t add to their tally.