CURRIE maintained the momentum gained from the previous weekend's win against Melrose with an impressive victory over a Hawick side who are now in a perilous position just five points above rock bottom club Stirling County in the Premiership 1 table.
It was the Malleny Park side who had the upper hand in the early exchanges but some strong-willed defence from Hawick managed to keep the home team at bay.
And despite that early pressure, it was the Borderers who took the lead through the boot o
f Rory Hutton.
Hutton then swiftly added a further two penalties to give his team a nine-point cushion midway through the first period. But then tries from scrum-half Ryan Reeves and prop forward Ross Weston, both well converted by Johnny Smith, sandwiched a further penalty by Hutton to give Currie a 14-12 interval lead.
Early second-half scores from Smith and Mark Cairns, again both converted, gave the hosts some breathing space but Hawick refused to roll over and Steven Anderson crossed for a converted try which hauled them back into the contest.
Although another Smith penalty stretched the Currie lead, a second try for the visitors, from full-back John Coutts, brought them to within one converted score.
But it was at this point that the Hawick challenge began to peter out, allowing their opponents to grab another converted score from Mike Norton, while Smith's second penalty added gloss to the scoreline, much to the satisfaction of Currie head coach, Ally Donaldson.
"We're absolutely delighted to get a bonus point win because you have to work hard for any win in this league," said Donaldson.
Scorers. Currie: Tries: Reeves, Weston, Smith, Cairns, Norton. Cons: Smith 5. Pens: Smith 2. Hawick: Tries: Anderson, Coutts. Con: Hutton. Pens: Hutton 4.
Currie: J Smith; D Fife, G White, M Norton, K McShane; M Scott, R Reeves; R Weston, J Thompson, M Cairns, D Turner, G Temple, A Hamilton, C Quigley, J Cox. Subs used: D Officer, J Harris, C Powley.
Hawick; J Coutts; K Hedley, G Hogg, L Armstrong, S Anderson; R Hutton, K Reid; R Hogg, N McTaggart, D Lowrie, C Charters, G Petrie, S Cummings, G Scott, N Little. Subs used: C Neish, B Campbell, S Linton, K Rawala, M Robertson
Referee: D Walker
The full article contains 394 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
