Australian Zane Glanville carves his name into Hawick rugby folklore with a late match-winning conversion against Kelso. Image: Charle Brooker
Arnold Clark Premiership: Hawick bounce back to extend long winning run over Kelso at Mansfield Park
The Greens coughed up 80 points to Heriot’s last weekend and looked dead and buried with 25 minutes to go in this match but showed their fighting spirit
Hawick 29
Kelso 28
DAVID FERGUSON @ Mansfield Park
WITH Kelso leading 28-12 with 25 minutes remaining in this intriguing Premiership encounter, there were very few in either camp who would have bet against them claiming a historic first national league win at Mansfield Park.
For all that Kelso have spent most of the 21st century in a different division to Hawick, it is still quite incredible that they have never managed to register a league victory at the home of the Green Machine. They have beaten Hawick at Poynder Park many times and clinched a Border League title at Mansfield, and in this, their 150th year, they seemed destined to end the long wait for that league triumph.
But a combination of the Hawick grit, from a mostly young team seeking to bounce back from an 80-point shellacking at Heriot’s on opening day, and Kelso thinking they had the game in the bag with that 16-point lead then playing into their opponents’ hands, opened the door to a late comeback clinched by a cool-headed Australian.
Hawick coach Graham Hogg admitted he didn’t see that coming, but he knew his team was never out of the game.
“I never think we’re beat until the final whistle, and when we were 16 points down, Scott McLeod and Bobby Chrystie [Hawick’s assistant coaches] were saying to me we just needed to get some territory, and get a try back and we had a chance,” he said.
“This lot are young, they’re naïve at times, but they are brave. Did I think we were going to come back and score at the end like that? Probably not, but I knew there was a bit of fight in them.
“There’s not many teams that get beat by 80 points and then come back and win the following week, but this was a perfect game for us after that. We spoke about how we’d been here before. We got pumped 93-nil against Ayr, and we went to the Greenyards a week after and beat Melrose. So, there is previous.
“But massive credit has to go to the boys, our leadership group, boys like Fraser Renwick, Shawn Muir, Connor Sutherland, and that fight that they bring, not just today but during the week. We showed that that green jersey means something and that’s the bit I’m massively proud of today.”
Kelso co-coach Bruce McNeil was once part of that famous green resistance so there were no surprises for him that Kelso didn’t end the hoodoo.
“We came here to break that record for the club and it is gutting that we didn’t,” he said. “It’s hard to dissect it right now, and I’m sure there will be parts of it that we’ll be pleased with because we scored four good tries, but some of our game management, not controlling territory when we were in front … and then when Hawick get on top of you like they did in those last few minutes, it’s really hard to stop that wave; they just keep coming and coming.
“They are a resilient bunch, and kept fighting, but I think we maybe went into defensive mode slightly early, after we scored that try after half-time, and we probably should have kept attacking. But that’s easier said than done against Hawick because they’re very good in the contact area, good at disrupting momentum, and you have to play for 85 minutes to win here, and ultimately we didn’t.”
The first half proved an intriguing battle of Hawick’s intensity (from Muir at prop to 18-year-old full-back Harry Wear, visible as much in the way they drove into contact as it was in their efforts in defence)and Kelso’s individual flair.
Hawick opened the scoring through young stand-off Cian Riddell nine minutes in, after they reacted swiftly to a turnover in their 22, with wing Ronan McKean picking up and combining with lock Hughie Donaldson to take the counter-attack over halfway, before Luke Scott sent Riddell sprinting clear.
Kelso struggled to keep possession long enough to threaten, until slick stand-off Dwain Patterson finished off an attack from a line-out on the half-hour by scything through a gap outside the 22 and racing round behind the post, then converting for a 7-5 lead.
However, within two minutes ,Hawick were back in front, this time outside centre Andrew Mitchell intercepting a Patterson pass to streak away for a gift-wrapped try, Eli Hamilton converting this time.
Kelso responded swiftly when Liam Herdman, the fast and skilful full-back, showed sublime skill to send a little grubber through the Hawick defence around 30 metres out and race onto it before curving his run past the cover for a fine solo score. Patterson converted but Kelso will have gone into half-time kicking themselves at only being ahead 14-12 up.
They spent the last five minutes pressing the home line, and Hawick were reduced to 14 men when Hamilton was yellow-carded for a deliberate knock-on. That act, denying a try in the corner, may, ultimately, have proven decisive, as Kelso centre Adam Hall lost the ball as he touched down in the last act.
Kelso struck again two minutes into the second half when Archie Barbour picked up a lovely pass from Patterson in a slick move off a Kelso scrum on their own 10-metre line, slicing through the Hawick defence and sprinting 50 metres between the Hawick cover to the line, and when left wing Angus Utterson showed great pace and strength to outflank the home defence and score in the 52nd minute to put Kelso 16 points up, it seemed game over.
But, ignoring the warnings of a century of struggles here, Kelso tried to shut down the game and played more through the forwards. With players of the quality of Muir, Renwick, Sutherland, Stuart Graham and Jae Linton, in particular, that played into the home pack’s hands.
Hawick introduced Liam Bouglas at scrum-half and he added some zip to the Greens attack, and they pulled themselves back into it with a third try just before the hour-mark, Graham winning the line-out, Sutherland battering Kelso back on their line, and big lock Donaldson crashing through after a patient spell of pressure.
Kelso thought they’d scored their fourth try when Barbour again sped through to touch down, but referee Dan Evans called play back for a forward pass. It proved a costly moment, as Barbour was then to spend ten minutes in the sin-bin after trying to grasp a pass as Hawick attacked to halfway, and knocking it forward, with Hawick scoring their third try from the resultant penalty with 15 minutes remaining.
The penalty was sent to touch, the referee’s arm stayed down despite the line-out looking decidedly squint, and Linton broke from the maul. He was caught by Will Tweedie and hauled down 10 metres short of the Kelso line, but Bouglas was on his shoulder to take the pop-pass and dive into the corner. The conversion was missed, leaving Hawick still six points adrift at 28-22, but with the crowd decibels lifting they finished strongly.
Bouglas was yellow-carded for a deliberate offside, and Patterson went for the posts, but from more than 50 metres on the angle it faded wide right, and Hawick sensed a chance.
That was in the final minute of normal time. But the injury stoppages meant a full 13 minutes of extra time, and Hawick even managed to be held up over the line and still have time to build phases, for Scott to eventually jink inside the cover to score a fifth try on the right.
The grund hushed as newcomer from Australia, Zane Glanville, stepped up, and he kept a cool head to slot the kick from close to the right touchline and send the home support delirious.
Teams –
Hawick: H Wear; E Hamilton, A Mitchell, L Scott, R McKean; C Riddell, G Welsh; S Muir, F Renwick, R Huntley, C Bell, H Donaldson, S Graham, C Sutherland, J Linton. Subs used: F Bell, C Crawley, L Gourlay, M Swailes, L Bouglas, Z Glanville.
Kelso: L Herdman; A Barbour, A Hall, F Robson, A Utterson; D Patterson©, W Tweedie; G Shiells, E Knox, D Gamble, E Thompson, R Wilson, H Borthwick, C Brown, B McNeil. Subs used: H Ross, G Paxton, B Douglas, M Shaw, H Tweedie.
Referee: Dan Evans
Scorers –
Hawick: Tries: Riddell, Mitchell, Donaldson, Bouglas, Scott; Cons: Hamilton, Glanville.
Kelso: Tries: Patterson, Herdman, Barbour, Utterson; Cons: Patterson 2.
Scoring sequence (Hawick first): 5-0; 5-7; 12-7; 12-14 (h-t) 12-19; 12-21; 12-26; 12-28; 17-28; 22-28; 27-28; 29-28.
Yellow cards –
Kelso: Barbour
Hawick: Hamilton, Bouglas
Player-of-the-Match: There were a good few contenders in both teams with Zane Glanville an instant star for Hawick with his match-winning conversion and Aussie prop Rogan Huntley also showing up well as a late call-up for Nicky Little. Kelso players did not quite match the urgency of the home forward pack but Dwain Patterson gave them the best chances in attack. However, the quality of the home pack and the ability of Jae Linton in stealing Kelso ball, turning it over and leading his team in attack wins the award for the Hawick No 8.
Talking point: That record – this was Kelso’s best opportunity to claim a first league victory at Mansfield Park, but they blew it.