Bonus points lift Gala off bottom of rugby’s Arnold Clark National League Division 1

The Maroons’ try and losing bonus points, coupled with a 54-5 thumping for Gordonians away to Edinburgh Academical, take their points tally up to 14 a dozen fixtures into the season, edging them up one place to ninth, with the Aberdeen outfit, on 12 points, taking over the basement spot.

Jed-Forest also lost out on Saturday, being beaten 26-14 away to Boroughmuir, that ninth defeat of the season leaving them as they were in the table, eighth, on 18 points.

Touching down tries for head coach Ewen Robbie’s Gala, 38-14 up at one point, as they got themselves to within moments of a 41-38 win against their visitors from East Lothian were right-winger Gregor Collins, blindside flanker Sam Smith at the double, outside-centre Ben Gill and replacement Jamie Bell, with left-winger Cameron Brydon adding five conversions and two penalties.

No 8 and captain Garry Young and replacement Paulo Ferreira scored tries for Michael Harshaw’s visitors at the capital’s Meggetland sports complex, both of them converted by openside flanker Finn Scott.

Gala’s defeat, their tenth of this term, was their sixth on the spin in National 1, part of a losing run stretching back into October, though they did claim a 31-24 Border League win at home to Kelso at the start of November in the midst of that losing streak, and Jed’s their second.

That’s their national league business now concluded for 2025, resuming on Saturday, January 10, with a derby pitting them against each other at Jedburgh’s Riverside Park, with kick-off at 3pm, following on from a 52-38 victory for Gala in September’s reverse fixture at Netherdale.

Gala have got another stand-alone Border League fixture lined up in the interim, however, and that’s away to Melrose on Saturday, December 26, with kick-off at 3pm and the Waverley Cup also at stake.

Smith was disappointed to have seen his side throw away a 24-point lead at the weekend to take their tally of losses for the season into double figures, telling Borders Rugby TV: “It’s a sore one to take.

“We chucked it away ourselves. We spent 79 minutes winning that game and then just gave away individual penalties in their 22, allowing them to kick the ball up, get lineouts and score off them.

“It was our own fault, giving away all those penalties. It was non-stop.

“We’re just gutted not to win that.

“We played some of the best rugby we’ve played all season in that first half and then just threw it away. We need to learn how to keep going.”

Looking ahead to trying to pull off a winning double versus Jed, the No 6 added: “It’s a must-win, I think, definitely a must-win.”

Young was also unhappy with how Saturday panned out, saying: “We had sideways rain and circling wind for the whole game, so it was always going to be a tough day.

“It was a tight first half and we went in at half-time at 12-7 and I don’t think either team really fired a shot. A couple of wrong bounces of the ball got Boroughmuir under the sticks and they really made us work hard for the seven points we got in that half.

“In the second half, we knew that whoever came out and scored first were probably going to have the run of the second half and Boroughmuir did that.

“Discipline really killed us. We had a high penalty count in that second half and that just allowed Boroughmuir to keep on top of us and keep their foot on our throat, so credit to them for doing that. They took the opportunities that were given to them and they kept the scoreboard ticking over.

“It’s a bit disappointing to go into Christmas not having taken any points from our last two games, but we’ll look over things over the break and we’ll look towards playing Gala on the 10th. That’s going to be a crucial game for us and is really going to dictate which way the rest of our season is going to go after that.”