Kelso go to top of rugby’s Tennent’s National League Division 1 after derby win at Gala

That 27-23 success at Netherdale in Galashiels, their first there since 2006, made it six wins out of six so far this season for Kelso and sees head coach Kevin Utterson’s side sitting in top spot with 28 points, having picked up four try bonus points along the way, including another at the weekend.

Saturday’s match counting for the Border League too, it kept up Kelso’s unbeaten start to that competition as well, following on from a 28-0 pool B victory at Peebles at the end of August.

Gala drop to second in the National 1 table, on 25 points from six games, after having their own winning streak halted, but they did manage the consolation of a losing bonus point to stay a point clear of third-placed Ayr.

Kelso’s try-scorers, assisted by a penalty try, were Cammy Thompson, Andy Tait and captain Frankie Robson, with Dwain Patterson adding a penalty and conversion to mark his 21st birthday.

Touching down for head coach Stuart Johnson’s Gala team were Marius Tamosaitis and Stevie Cairns, with Harris Rutherford adding three penalties and two conversions.

Next up for Kelso this coming Saturday is a visit from sixth-placed Stirling County at Poynder Park and Gala are away to fifth-placed Highland, both kick-offs being at 3pm.

Kelso centre Patterson was delighted to see his side keep up their winning run, telling Borders Rugby TV: “It just keeps building week on week.

“We’re just having belief in ourselves and trying to right some wrongs from last year – some silly games that we probably weren’t up for and let slip. This year we’re trying to right those wrongs and really fix some wee nuts and bolts in our game.

“Liam Herdman and some of the younger boys today, like Ashton Asante, stepped up really well.

“We are going to have a target on our back if we keep winning, but we’ll just keep our game the way it is. We don’t need to change anything.”

Kelso director of rugby Neil Hinnigan added: “I’m absolutely honestly so happy for these players because they’ve put so much work in since the start of the season and they deserve this wholeheartedly.

“The character they’ve shown to come away and get the win and get five points here is absolutely amazing.

“I must give credit to Gala as well. They made some match of it and it could have gone either way right up until the end. Kelso really grabbed the initiative in the last five or ten minutes, but up until then, it was anyone’s match. Gala put up a great fight.”

Gala fly-half Rutherford said: “It was definitely a disappointing one.

“In the first 30 minutes, we didn’t keep enough ball and that came back to haunt us. We made little, silly mistakes and we didn’t quite manage to take all of our opportunities.

“All in all, it was an all right performance but we can definitely do better for next week away to Highland.

“There are definitely loads of things we can take from the game. There were plently of positives, like our penalty count being lower than in weeks previous.

“We played decent rugby at times but we’ve just got to retain ball more. If we look after the ball, we’ll definitely be in a different place next week.”