Forrester 20
Hawick Linden 23
RBS EAST LEAGUE TWO
LINDEN knew nothing less than victory was required to maintain their position as league leaders.
It was Forrester who drew first blood via a converted try and they added a penalty as the Teries’ discipline troughed.
There was worse to follow for the Borderers. Forrester pinned them down with a long-range kick to the visitors’ 22, regained possession and after a forward surge to the Linden line, their prop barged over for a converted try.
Undeterred, the Teries stormed back straight from the restart as Nathan Murray ran in for a great team touchdown.
It was all Hawick for the next five minutes with the Linden forwards giving their counterparts a torrid time. Forrester conceded a penalty and Linden drilled the ball deep into the home 22. From the resulting line-out, Sean Fairbairn won tidy ball and after several surges, Greg Goodfellow crashed over for the try and the score was 17-10 after 33 minutes.
From a line-out, Linden secured possession and it was Terry Skeet who ploughed over for another fine try.
Linden took the lead for the first time after 46 minutes when Stuart Renwick kicked a penalty, but this advantage was short-lived, Forrester replying with a penalty to make the score 20-18.
Hawick freshened their line-up by bringing on Graham Colville and Wattie Davies – and the fresh legs paid dividends after 72 minutes.
Linden gathered a kick, the ball spun out to Greg Thomson, who ran, then drilled it long down the line. The home rearguard was pressured into conceeding a 10-yard scrum. The visiting pack put in a massive effort and Graham Colville was able to pick and drive over to clinch victory.