Berwick entertained Hawick Linden in the semi-final of the Border Shield at Scremerston on Saturday and in the end ran out worthy winners.

Some supporters turned up for the usual 2pm kick-off not realising that the game kicked off at 1.30 and in truth, with Berwick struggling to work off the effects of the Festive season in the first 20 minutes, turned up just as Berwick were starting to take control of the game.

For the first 20 minutes it was the young Hawick side who had the better of the game and who took a deserved three point lead after converting a penalty in front of the Berwick posts. This seemed to stir the Berwick side and with the forwards starting to take control Jamie Pick took a pass after a Berwick drive to outpace the Hawick defence and score a fine try in front of the posts which he converted to give Berwick a 7-3 lead.

Berwick were then unlucky to have a score disallowed after Gareth Hill was adjudged to have made a forward pass to Pick who had a clear run in to score. It was Hill who manufactured the next score with a break from his own 25 he chipped the ball over the Linden defence and outpaced the defence to score an unconverted try in the corner to make the half time score Berwick 12 Hawick Linden 3.

Straight from the kick off the Berwick forwards won the ball and the ball was fed along the backs to Lee Douglas who scored a fine unconverted try in the corner to increase Berwick’s lead to 17 points to 3.

Berwick spurned a number of scoring chances with dropped and misplaced passes however after some great handling Michael Binnie cut inside two Hawick defenders to score under the posts which Pick converted to make the score 24 – 3.

With the Berwick forwards now rampant it was fitting that after a scrum five and a forward drive Geoff Logan scored under the posts which Pick converted to make the final score Berwick 31 Hawick Linden 3.

The coaching staff will have been pleased with this performance and particularly pleased to see that a number of players are now or about to return from injury.

The venue for the final was decided on the toss of a coin which means that Berwick will travel to play Hawick Quins in the final which will be on the 11th February.