​Century of points scored as Selkirk win derby versus Jed-Forest in rugby’s Scottish Premiership

Replacement Callum Turnbull on the attack for Selkirk during their 65-35 win at home to Jed-Forest at Philiphaugh on Saturday (Photo: Grant Kinghorn)Replacement Callum Turnbull on the attack for Selkirk during their 65-35 win at home to Jed-Forest at Philiphaugh on Saturday (Photo: Grant Kinghorn)
Replacement Callum Turnbull on the attack for Selkirk during their 65-35 win at home to Jed-Forest at Philiphaugh on Saturday (Photo: Grant Kinghorn)
​Selkirk and Jed-Forest were both waiting for their first wins of the new Scottish Premiership rugby season ahead of their derby at the former’s Philiphaugh home ground on Saturday so caginess and caution might well have been anticipated.

​It didn’t turn out that way as a free-flowing, fast-moving match instead saw tries touched down at a rate of one just over every five minutes and the scoreline hit treble figures.

Ten of the 15 tries scored were in the hosts’ favour, earning them a 65-35 victory in a fixture also counting for the Border League.

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On the scoresheet with tries for the Souters were Callum Anderson, Andrew Grant-Suttie, Andrew McColm, Scott McClymont, Aaron McColm, Finlay Wheelans at the double, Jake Millburn, Josh Welsh and Andrew Cochrane, with Cameron Easson adding five conversions and a penalty and Anderson also converting.

Scrum-half Aidan Bambrick getting the ball away for Jed-Forest against Selkirk at Philiphaugh on Saturday (Photo: Grant Kinghorn)Scrum-half Aidan Bambrick getting the ball away for Jed-Forest against Selkirk at Philiphaugh on Saturday (Photo: Grant Kinghorn)
Scrum-half Aidan Bambrick getting the ball away for Jed-Forest against Selkirk at Philiphaugh on Saturday (Photo: Grant Kinghorn)

Touching down for their visitors from Jedburgh were Elliot Lauder at the double, Mark Glen, Clark Skeldon and Robbie Shirra-Gibb, with Gary Munro converting all five.

That result moves Selkirk up to seventh place in the premiership table after three rounds, on five points. Jed remain bottom but they’ve now got a try bonus point to get them off the mark.

Next up for head coach Gordon Henderson’s Souters is a trip to fourth-placed Marr this coming Saturday, with kick-off at 3pm.

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Jed are at home at Riverside Park to second-from-bottom Musselburgh at the weekend, also at 3pm.

Josh Welsh on the attack for Selkirk as they beat Jed-Forest 65-35 at home at Philiphaugh on Saturday (Photo: Grant Kinghorn)Josh Welsh on the attack for Selkirk as they beat Jed-Forest 65-35 at home at Philiphaugh on Saturday (Photo: Grant Kinghorn)
Josh Welsh on the attack for Selkirk as they beat Jed-Forest 65-35 at home at Philiphaugh on Saturday (Photo: Grant Kinghorn)

Though unhappy at conceding a handful of tries, half-back Aaron McColm, making his 100th appearance for Selkirk, was glad to see them end up on the right side of the scoreline, telling Borders Rugby TV: “Our attack takes care of itself but defensively we let in 35 points, which is quite disappointing.

“It was a positive day for Selkirk, though, as we got 65 points.

“To get 65 points and play some good stuff and click as a team was really, really positive.

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“Credit to Jed for scoring 35 points, I thought they really played quite good rugby. They played some good stuff out wide and stretched us.”

Selkirk veteran Ross Nixon on the ball versus Jed-Forest at home at Philiphaugh on Saturday (Photo: Grant Kinghorn)Selkirk veteran Ross Nixon on the ball versus Jed-Forest at home at Philiphaugh on Saturday (Photo: Grant Kinghorn)
Selkirk veteran Ross Nixon on the ball versus Jed-Forest at home at Philiphaugh on Saturday (Photo: Grant Kinghorn)

Jed captain Clark Skeldon added: “To come away from home and score 35 points in the premiership isn’t easily done. That’s the good side of things, but you can’t take away from the negative of the opposite side of the scoreboard and that’s been our Achilles heel for a while.

“We’ve always had that kind of mentality where if the opposition score 30, we’ll score 40, and it doesn’t work like that just now, so we need to work on that side of things.

“Next week’s going to be massive for us to try to build up some momentum this season.

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“We’ve gained a point today, so that’s a start, but going into next week, we need to try to pick up maximum points.

Blake Roff on the ball for Jed-Forest away to Selkirk at Philiphaugh on Saturday (Photo: Grant Kinghorn)Blake Roff on the ball for Jed-Forest away to Selkirk at Philiphaugh on Saturday (Photo: Grant Kinghorn)
Blake Roff on the ball for Jed-Forest away to Selkirk at Philiphaugh on Saturday (Photo: Grant Kinghorn)

“Back at home at Riverside Park in front of our home crowd, hopefully we can go into that and get something.

“We’ll be confident we can go out and score tries, so as long as we work on our defence, we’ll hopefully get something from that game.

“I don’t think it’s down to lack of effort. There are a lot of boys out there happy to fly into tackles and that. It’s just that collective cohesiveness, trying to defend together instead of individually, we lack.”

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