Those three tries – taking ex-Scotland under-20 international Tait’s tally against his former side to five this campaign after scoring twice in the reverse fixture in October, a 27-22 win for the Greens at Mansfield Park – were accompanied by others touched down by left-winger Ben Pickles and Hugo Alderson, with scrum-half Alderson adding two conversions and a penalty and fly-half and co-captain Aaron McColm another set of extras. Hawick’s tries at Philiphaugh at the weekend were scored by left-winger Charlie Welsh and blindside flanker Fraser Renwick, with full-back Kirk converting one and alo kicking a penalty. Head coach Gordon Henderson’s Souters are now targeting retaining possession of their play-off place but are fully aware that will be no mean feat as their seven remaining regular-season fixtures include away games against the three teams above them – starting this coming Saturday with a trip to Edinburgh to take on second-placed Heriot’s, with kick-off at 2pm – and a visit from the team they’ve swapped places with to go up one spot to fourth, Currie Chieftains. Selkirk are now on 47 points from 16 fixtures, nine shy of third-placed Watsonians but with a game in hand on them, and three ahead of Currie. Hawick head coach Graham Hogg’s visitors – unable to take advantage of twice being a man up due to yellow cards for the hosts’ Alderson on 18 minutes and lock and co-captain Andrew McColm on 73 – fall from sixth place to eighth, on 35 points from 15 matches, but remain seven clear of the three-deep relegation zone ahead of a visit from seventh-placed Glasgow Hawks this Saturday, with kick-off at 3pm. Tait, started at blindside flanker against Hawick before reverting to his usual role as hooker, is delighted to see his side heading up the table and is now focused on helping them keep hold of fourth place to extend their season by at least one game. “It was massive for us in terms of putting us into the top four, so it’s now just about trying to stay there and consolidate that,” the 21-year-old told Borders Rugby TV afterwards. “Five points against Hawick is no easy feat so we’re really buzzing about that. “We knew this game was going to be really intense, all Border derbies are. You can never count on anything – it could be first in the table against tenth, it’s always going to be attritional. “Hawick put in an amazing performance but we just managed to get over the line in those little areas, those little battles. “All the boys put in a real shift, especially in those 14-man periods, when we just had to work that little bit harder. I’m really proud of the boys.” Looking ahead to visiting Heriot’s this weekend, he added: “It’s a big thing for us. “They’re second in the table, so it’s a really big one for us, especially with it being away. “If we can get a win up there, it would be amazing. If we could get a couple of points to just keep ticking over, that would be a big thing for us.” Though accepting they’re closer to being in a relegation fight than they are to challenging for a play-off place after their ninth defeat of the season, Hawick aren’t ruling out a late-season push for the latter just yet. “There’s plenty of quality in our team, we’re not shying away from saying that. We’re a bloody good team on our day,” said blindside flanker Fraser Renwick. “We just need to park this, review it and then take it from here. “We’re in a dog-fight now but we’re not going to shy away from it. “We just need to keep going and we will get the rewards one day. “It’s tight in the middle of the league now, so the next three games for us will be massive and we can hopefully get points from them and get away from the bottom end of the table and then push for that fourth play-off spot.” Looking back over Saturday’s derby defeat, the 27-year-old accepted the better side had won, saying: “It was obviously disappointing, the result and whatnot, but it was a good, fierce Border derby, I’d say. “There were plenty of shots going in from both sides and Selkirk came away with the win, and they probably deserved it, to be fair.”