Dunbar headed to the Borders for the third time this season missing several key players. Influential Centre Jamie Peters was the biggest loss and to make matters worse Jack Walters failed to start the match with Tom Wight moving to scrum half. Dunbar started brightly and forced Linden to give away a lot of penalties. It was however the home side who struck first on ten minutes with a try in the corner. This seemed to put the Dunbar players heads down as the home side took control.

A scrum against the head on 14 minutes led to the second Hawick try for a 12-0 lead. Hawick took advantage of some poor Dunbar defence to score almost from the kick off with the visitor’s defence posted missing. Hawick should have scored minutes later but some poor decision making allowed Dunbar to clear up field. Dunbar then scored a nice try when Gary Peebles showed some good strength to run in the score after good work by Brown.

This should have given Dunbar the confidence to get right back in the game but again shot themselves in the foot. The kick off was spilled and a Hawick player kicked through and with the Dunbar defence missing scored a simple try. Another scrum against the head led to Hawick scoring again minutes later. Hawick at this stage were almost scoring at will and extended their lead with two tries in as many minutes just before half time to lead 43-5.

Dunbar looked to reduce the lead immediately after half time but Brown tripped on the artificial surface and ended up leaving the field along with Higginbottom. Having already lost Nathan Craig at half time this led to Dunbar playing short-handed for the rest of the match. Hawick scored two quick fire tries on 47 and 50 minutes and another followed on 57 to give Hawick a 62-5 lead. Dunbar did however start to take the game to the Borderers and were rewarded when Daniel Philp crossed at the posts. Charlton converted. Hawick from the re start turned over the ball and scored again a few minutes later. Gary Peebles then showed similar strength as in the first half to break through and score at the posts with Charlton converting. Hawick had the final say with a try in the last minute after Dunbar lost possession.

This was a poor performance against a team who they really should have competed with on paper and the Dunbar players will need to take a long hard look at themselves. There seems to be a lack of Commitment from players around the town which is shown both at training and with numbers on a Saturday.

Match report and photos courtesy of David Wilson, Chairman Dunbar RFC