This was far from a braw, bricht moonlit nicht in ‘dirty’ gala but the only thing dirty about this fine encounter was the wet weather that continued throughout but in fairness failed to dampen an excellent contest. A strong Force squad made the journey and then waited for the referee to have a proper toilet stop in Stow before arriving late and running the gauntlet in his first Border derby. Joining him in the baptism of soggy fire was Hawick’s new All Black recruit Dan Carterhaugh ‘the unstoppable machine’ who was well used to these South Island conditions after the water shed its load on the proceedings.
No sooner had Hawick kicked off than it became apparent as to exactly how the game would be played with the Force’s forwards supreme in their unwillingness to Stop in the name of Love or tackles whilst the home backs decided they had to Run,run,run.
Within the first 5 minutes a pattern was set as the green lineout yielded great ball and quick work around the base of the ruck allowed Aidan Fairbairn to bellyflop over for a rain soaked try quickly followed by a break away by Gala to score a converted try.
Despite the conditions handling was excellent especially amongst the Force pack who grabbed and scurried beetle-like for 3 driven lineout tries. Fergus Bell had to shout the call and twist over for the first, he demanded that Murray Renwick let it be for him to score his second and his quickfire hat trick came without the need to call for help!
Meanwhile Bailey Donaldson kicked intelligently and, in the mud, he showed that having fancy 3 stripe booted tiger feet is a bonus in slotting a couple of conversions despite Gala’s accumulation of another converted try to take the Force half time lead 24 to 14.
The hosts upped their game after the break and keeping the ball in hand scored another try to keep it close. The game descended into Madness as tempers frayed the ref having to try to get yipping players to Shut Up, and prevent them from going one step beyond acceptable conduct. However, what would a Teri v Pails derby be without a rammy and a bit of embarrassment? Donaldson cleverly kicked a penalty goal to keep Gala from having a chance to snatch it late on after great work in the loose by both Glen Welsh and Liam Graham. Thankfully Gala’s last kick of the game went over of its own accord without the unwelcome assistance of a green boot.
Having missed last week’s Currie feast in favour of a travel up the Autobahn both Calum Wolfgang Renwick and Gareth Helmut Welsh performed well with crafty work around the breakdown using model efficiency. Outstanding play in the pack from Tom Huggan and Morgan Tait on the wing left the residents of the supermarket town all shook up, steadying performances from Ali Weir and Grant Huggan behind the scrum ensured that Gala thoughts of victory were returned to sender but it was young Bell realising that his chance to move up to the firsts may be now or never who showed himself to be The King of Netherdale with a hat trick that caused 1sts forwards’ coach Bertram to proclaim that Fergus ‘is always on my mind’.
The proud Force victors did not mind that due to the lack of a bus and several roadwork diversions they would have to walk near 500 miles home to Hawick rubbing their table-topping victory in by singing Joyful Galashiels Blues as they left.
