Glasgow Hawks and Currie will go head to head at Old Anniesland this Saturday with victory and British & Irish Cup qualification weighing heavily on their minds.
In a dramatic finish to the Premier A season, the top four clubs will come face to face this weekend, with first and second-placed Melrose and Ayr running out at the Greenyards for the league championship.
Melrose have already snapped up one of the three spots in next season’s cross-border competition leaving Ayr, Currie and Hawks to battle it out for the remaining two.
The game is an absolute must-win for Hawks who, like Melrose, will play their last game of the season this weekend, while Currie and Ayr have a game in hand (another crucial top-four clash against one another the following weekend on Saturday 30 April).
Hawks are without the talismanic Scotland 7s international stand-off Mike Adamson who has failed to recover from an ankle injury sustained in the club’s 19-17 defeat to Hawick last weekend.
 Premier A as it stands
1 Melrose 70
2 Ayr 63
3 Hawks 61
4 Currie 60
Saturday 23 April: Melrose v Ayr
Saturday 23 April: Hawks v Currie
Saturday 30 April: Ayr v Currie 
Currie are without young winger Dougie Fife and stalwart back-row Mark Cairns though the club is able to field able replacements Andrew Turnbull and Steve Burton.
Glasgow Hawks head coach, Peter Wright, said: This is the biggest game of the season for Glasgow Hawks. It’s a must win game against a very competitive and powerful Currie side who are also vying for a place in the British and Irish.”
Currie head coach Ally Donaldson, said: When we trailed a very strong Hawks team by nine points at the season break we didn’t expect to be a point behind them at this stage with a game in hand. We have played very well since then and have given us this opportunity to qualify for the B & I Cup.”
Glasgow Hawks: Craig Gossman; Robbie Hair, Dean Kelbrick, Tom Preece, Kerr Gossman; Peter Jericevich, Kris Hamilton; Adrian Smith, Eric Milligan, Gary Strain, Rory Hamilton, Nick Campbell, Rory McKay, Bart Karalus, Grant Strang
Substitutes: Nico Nyamba, George Hunter, Ross Miller, Sean Murray, Tom Steven
Currie: Tom Brown; Andrew Turnbull, Hayden Abercrombie, Andy MacMahon, James Johnston; Matt Scott, Richard Snedden; John Cox, Finlay Gillies, Alastair Hamilton, Ryan Wilson, Andy Adam, Steve Burton, Mike Entwhistle, Ross Weston
Substitutes: Alun Walker, Ross Merrilees, Gary Temple, Andrew Binikos (one more replacement to be announced)

This article was posted on 21-Apr-2011, 18:45 by Hugh Barrow.