Hawick Linden 10
Duns 20
EAST DIVISION ONE
IT WAS a cruel end for Linden on Saturday as Duns scored with the last play of the game to leave the home side without even a bonus point in a match they had contributed so much to.
Linden attacked early, but a knock-on ended the threat and after 15 minutes Duns went ahead with a penalty.
The Dingers were a tight cohesive unit up front andthe pressure paid off. Despite a big hit by Linden in the tackle, the Duns player spun round and touched down.
As the half ended, the hosts notched another try from a quickly-taken penalty, which was converted, to lead 15-0 at the break.
After the restart, Linden began to gain more possession and Gavin Stirling kicked a penalty goal.
The Royal Blues were straight back on the attack and Sean Goodfellow took a quick tap penalty to sprint over at the posts. Stirling converted.
With both sides going hammer and tongs, a flare-up resulted in Steven Bouglas and a Duns replacement cooling off for 10 minutes.
The players had a chance to get their breath back when a loose boot flewg through the air towards the banking at the river end and the game was stalled to search for it.
Down by five points, the home side’s little mistakes meant they couldn’t exert the pressure they would have wished. In injury time, nice handling and running by the Duns backs took them deep into Linden territory and, from recycled ball, they went over in the corner to deny the home team a deserved losing bonus point.
Hawick Linden: L. Robson; G. Thomson, N. Murray, S. Bouglas, S. Renwick; G. Stirling, S. Goodfellow; C. Turnbull, S. Harkness, T. Skeet, C. Mitchell, B. Willison, C. Smith, G. Cunningham, G. Colville. Subs: S. Campbell, J. Tait, C. Russell.