Heriot’s 80
Hawick 13
COLIN RENTON @ Goldenacre
HERIOT’S launched their Arnold Clark Premiership challenge with a 12-try rout that was a perfect start for new head coach Stuart Edwards and a painful lesson for Hawick. Neither team will read too much into one result, although it does bring some perspective to their longer-term prospects.
Both sides have recruited actively over the summer, and quite rightly have expressed their ambitions of featuring at the top end of the table when the season reaches its decisive point. However, it is only when the action starts that the substance of those aspirations can be fairly assessed. On the evidence of this encounter, Heriot’s look like contenders, while Hawick are still a work-in-progress.
The Borderers looked set to make a contest of it when they battled back from conceding an early try to trail by a single point midway through the first half. But the Goldenacre men showed a clinical edge that marks them down as a team to watch as the season unfolds.
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Edwards is too shrewd an operator to focus on the outcome, but naturally he was delighted with the performance, saying: “I was nervous in the morning because I never knew where we were at, although I thought I knew. The boys have been amazing for the last nine weeks. I have been asking certain things of them around their fitness and commitment and different things. I was wondering ‘where do we actually stand?’. I was wary of Hawick because they are well coached and they have some good players. I didn’t expect us to win 80-13. I also feel we left a lot out there and we have a lot of work to do, but I couldn’t be any happier from a starting point.”
In the away camp, Graham Hogg’s tone was understandably downbeat, with the impression that Hawick could be ready to be competitive now less clear. His task is to ensure that lessons are learned quickly.
“It goes without saying that that is a massive reality check for a lot of our young boys,” he said. “I thought we stuck in the fight relatively well first half but the second half we just capitulated.
“That is what it is going to take to play at the top end of the Premiership. Heriot’s are a quality side and they took their chances really well, but individually and collectively we need to be a lot better than we were in that second half.”
The hosts made a lively start and opened the scoring after four minutes when Calum Jessop carried the ball into contact just short of the line and Euan McLaren picked up then plunged over, with Jessop adding the extras.
Hawick’s first visit to the Heriot’s half yielded a penalty which Bailey Donaldson stroked over to open the Greens’ account, And he trimmed the deficit to a single point when he slotted a second kick in 17 minutes.
Heriot’s responded instantly with a slick handling move that ended with a clever inside pass to Tom Glendinning who darted in, with Jessop again converting.
The gap grew to double figures when the hosts profited from a stroke of good fortune after a speculative Hugo Alderson kick bounced kindly for Ross McKnight, who showed his finishing power to motor over from 30 metres. Jessop again converted, and he maintained his flawless record after a powerful surge by the pack ended with Mykel Sleemen dotting down to mark his debut with the bonus point try that left the home side in control at the break.
Heriot’s resumed where they had finished the first half. A scrum five metres out provided the platform for a slick handling move that saw the ball spun out to Glendinning who finished acrobatically in the corner, with Jessop thumping over the conversion.
Hawick replied with their first touchdown of the campaign. Fraser Renwick threw in at a line-out deep inside the home 22 and was on hand to finish off when he dived over for the score, with Donaldson adding the extras.
Any hope the Borderers may have had of building on that and fighting back were quickly extinguished when Glendinning intercepted on half way. He was captured 15 metres from the line but the recycled ball was moved quickly to Ross Brown who finished the job.
Jessop converted but registered his first miss of the afternoon after McKnight collected a pass on the Hawick 10 metre line and blasted past a tiring defence with an arcing run. Jessop atoned for that miss when he was on hand to finish off and add the extras after Glendinning had done the spadework with a run that saw him bounce through two tackles.
With a chunk of added time following a lengthy stoppage for an injury, there was still plenty of opportunity for rampant Heriot’s to rub salt into what was now a gaping Hawick wound, and they did so with four more tries. First, Tom Dunn stretched over for a converted try, then Aidan Boyle darted over before Ned Hufton etched his name on the scoresheet when he raced in from long range, and Angus Hunter rounded off the scoring.
Teams –
Heriot’s: D King; R McKnight, A Boyle, Z Smith, T Glendinning; C Jessop, H Alderson; M Jones, M Sleemen, E McLaren, P Spence, J Roylance, R Kirkpatrick, T Dunn, R Leishman ©. Subs used: A Johnston, T Kaijaks, S Cessford, R Brown, S Talac, N Hufton, A Hunter.
Hawick: Z Glanville; E Hamilton, A Mitchell, B Donaldson, R McKean; H Wear, G Welsh; S Muir, F Renwick ©, R Huntley, H Donaldson, J Henry, S Graham, M Swailes, J Linton. Subs used: F Bell, C Crawley, L Gourlay, C Bell, H Common, B Jardine, O Gray.
Referee: Jonny Mackenzie