Selkirk 6 - 19 Hawick: Snow-hit Selkirk caught cold by Greens

Only a giant-killing performance by Morgan FP at Forfar Road in four weeks can prevent Hawick from reaching the quarter-finals of the Scottish Cup after the Greens' made it two from two in the competition with victory over their Border rivals Selkirk in yesterday's second round match at Philiphaugh.

But just what this all means for former Cup winners Hawick remains to be seen. Next week three of their players, Neil Renwick, Craig Charters and Keith Davis, head for a rugby 'holiday' in Australia and moreover the Cup final is scheduled to be played on the day of the Hawick Sevens.

Yesterday Hawick were understandably quicker out of the blocks and less error-prone, having enjoyed the luxury of a friendly match against Jed-Forest almost two weeks ago. One game in eight weeks may not sound much but it was one more than Selkirk managed during the enforced winter shutdown.

Hawick, too, were given full value from their more high profile players, Rory Hutton in particular steering the Greens to victory with an impressive performance that blended skilful handling, an ability to break the first line of defence and some clever kicking from hand. In addition Hutton's half-back partner , Greg Cottrell, was lively at the base of the scrum, while skipper Bruce McNeil carried the ball with conviction.

The Greens would also be pleased with the performance of their young outside back Greg Anderson and winger Neil McColm, who both showed good rugby skills, while for Selkirk Gavin Craig produced several darting runs, Fraser Harkness, playing at inside centre, dented the Hawick defence and Calum Marshall, coming on as a sub, showed good hands.

Hawick, playing with the wind (and the rain) in the first half were quickly into their stride with a close-range try by McNeil and the conversion by Hutton after good pick-and-drive approach work.

Then when Hutton chose the blindside route, the Greens' stand-off had the running skills to weave through the Selkirk defence for try number two. A penalty try was awarded after Selkirk had kicked the ball out of an advancing Hawick scrum close to the line, earning Simon Willets a yellow card. The conversion by Hutton completed Hawick's scoring with ten minutes of the first half remaining.

Selkirk, looking more purposeful after the break, soon reaped their reward with a penalty goal by Scott Hendrie . The centre missed from similar range five minutes later but added a second for the final points of the match.