Rugby: Biggar beaten convincingly at Hawick.

Jan 28 2010 by Andrew McGilvray, Hamilton Advertiser

BIGGAR slumped to defeat in an emotionally charged Scottish Hydro Premier 2 encounter at Hawick on Saturday.

A minute’s applause was observed before the match in memory of the late commentator Bill McLaren, a Hawick man, who died in midweek.

The visitors fielded a familiar XV, the only change being the appearance of flanker Ewan McAlpine due to the unavailability of Alan Warnock.

Opening up well but obviously fairly ring-rusty from weeks of inactivity, Biggar took the first points via a Chris McKeand penalty.

However Hawick hit back swiftly when an ambitious Sam Muir pass was intercepted by John Coutts, who scampered across for an opportunist’s try from 25 metres out.

Graham Hogg’s conversion took the hosts into a 7-3 lead.

Hawick stretched their lead further through a Hogg penalty and a Coutts drop-goal, taking the score to 13-3.

While few could claim the lead wasn’t merited, the frequency of the scores somewhat flattered Hawick.

The Borders side grabbed another score when a good passage of forward play was rounded off by Bruce McNeil, with Hogg converting for a 20-3 half-time lead.

A storming start to the second half had Hawick’s defence under pressure, but Biggar simply couldn’t turn that dominance into points.

Jason Kelly went close before being dispossessed yards from the line, and Biggar had to settle for two Chris McKeand penalties which reduced the deficit to 20-9.

But Hogg had the last laugh with a penalty, taking the final score to 23-9 in Hawick’s favour.

On 40 points in sixth place in the table, Biggar would clearly wish to add a few more wins and challenge for a third-placed finish.

They will hope to start that when seventh-placed Kirkcaldy visit Hartreemill.