Kelso RFC (31) vs Hawick RFC (25) - RBS Border Regional Cup

Pre-Match Report

Coming Soon…

Match Report

On a beautiful afternoon on a firm pitch, Kelso continued their good from of recent weeks with a very good performance against the much higher ranked Hawick. There are many sceptics with regard to the Border League but this game, although not counting for the Border League, was played at a high tempo in a fierce and aggressive manner. The game, to be fair, was a bit stop-start due to the many injuries but that was how the match was played in front of a healthy crowd. The injuries started early as poor Greg Ponton was felled by a fair tackle after only 17 seconds. He must have wondered if the warm up was worth it all! 

Hawick took an early lead after Mark Chester had a probing kick charged down and Keith Davies ran in unopposed from 60 metres for a try which Neil Renwick converted. Kelso responded instantly after Richard Minto made a half break and fed Lewis Mallin who galloped over at the posts to make the conversion for Chester a formality. Hands in the ruck cost Kelso a penalty on their own 10 metre line and Renwick duly restored Hawick’s lead. 

Play was very open at this stage and territorial advantage swung one way then the other until Donald Seed was adjudged to have entered a ruck from the side. At his size, Donald is hard to miss and he was sent to cool his heels in the sin bin. The penalty was missed but great support play by Hawick almost saw them in for another try. The try was not long in coming and when they disrupted a 7 man Kelso scrum, Michael Robertson drove over at the corner to extend the lead to 15-7 with a fine try. 

There followed in quick succession a spate of injuries, a discussion between the referee, Keiran Cooney and Matt Landels presumably about the unseasonal weather, and some great defence by Kelso. 

On 36 minutes Kelso scored their second try after a sharp break by Gregg Minto and keen following up by David Lowrie who touched down at the posts. Again,Chesterkicked the goal. Following a penalty which was kicked into touch, Donald Seed won a clean ball in the line out and Mark Chester found Gregg Minto with pin point accuracy on the far wing. Minto was stopped short of the try line and was penalised for not releasing. Half time was signalled at 15- 14 to Hawick. 

A dropped ball in a Hawick passing move was hacked into their 22 area by Kevin Utterson. Kelso won the resulting line out and eventually Stuart Lowrie was driven over for another try. Chester, who had not been kicking in recent games, slotted the slightly harder conversion to put Kelso 21-15 ahead. 

Hawick reduced the gap with another Renwick penalty for a high tackle. Kelso were winning some really good first phase ball and continued to threaten the Hawick line with some strong forward play. They were held up over the line a couple of times. They were, however, rewarded for their perseverance after another line out win when Frankie Robson followed by Andy Tait got the ball toChesterwho fired out a clever miss pass to the charging Gregg Minto who went in near the corner. The conversion was duly successfully kicked and Kelso really had their tails up and created a few more half chances. 

Hawick had their moments and were stopped short of the line by solid Kelso defence. They were over the line but called back for a forward pass. Cottrell was held up on the line as they sorely tested the Kelso resolve. 

Kelso duly went upfield and were awarded a penalty for offside.Chesterstroked over the three points to put Kelso nearer to safety. As the game came to its close, Hawick were awarded a penalty which they tapped and ran, with Keith Davies going over in the corner for his second try. Renwick converted to complete the scoring. 

Kelso controlled the end of the game with a succession of phases of play akin toMunsterto see then through to a well deserved win. 

A fine team effort and what made it more encouraging was the fact that three of last week’s forwards did not play due to unavailability or injury. Competition for places will encourage the players to reach higher levels. 

All we need now is to win some games away from home but with this spirit and endeavour, that cannot be far away.