Derby defeat at Kelso knocks Melrose off top spot in table

Head coach Callum Anderson’s Greenyards team drop to second place, on 32 points from eight fixtures, after three weeks in pole position, with defending champions Ayr, on 35 from eight after beating title challengers Currie Chieftains 29-7 at home at the weekend, replacing them.

Tall order though it might be, opportunity knocks for Melrose to reverse those roles this coming Saturday, however, as the South Ayrshire side will be coming calling for a 3pm kick-off.

Kelso’s standing in the table is unaffected by notching up their fourth win of the season, though they’re now within two points of the top-four play-off places, down from six at kick-off.

Co-head coaches Nikki Walker and Bruce McNeil’s Poynder Park outfit remain sixth but they’re now on 24 points from eight matches, two points behind both fourth-placed Currie and fifth-placed Watsonians and in with a chance of leapfrogging the latter this Saturday, the Myreside Stadium side being their next opponents, with kick-off in Edinburgh at 3pm.

Opposite number Graham Hogg’s Hawick remain as they were too, eighth, despite registering their third win of the season, by 32-24 at home to Watsonians, leaving them on 15 points from seven fixtures.

Like Kelso, they’ll be heading to the capital this Saturday, to take on second-from-bottom Edinburgh Academical, and that’s a 2pm start at Raeburn Place.

Kelso’s try-scorers against the prior league leaders were blindside flanker McNeil and replacement left-winger Hamish Tweedie at the double, tighthead prop and co-captain Dan Gamble and right-winger Angus Utterson, with Archie Barbour – started at No 11 but moved to full-back as part of a reshuffle necessitated by fly-half and co-skipper Dwain Patterson going off ten minutes in with a suspected dislocated collarbone – adding three conversions and a penalty.

Touching down tries for Melrose, one of them converted by fly-half Luke Townsend, were left-winger Donald Crawford, inside-centre Gavin Wood, No 8 Ruairi Campbell and replacement Jarrah Bell.

Anderson was sad to see his side relinquish top spot after being hit by their second defeat of this term, telling the Offside Line rugby news website: “I’m really disappointed looking at that score and feeling that it is much wider than it should have been, but full credit to Kelso, they were the better team and showed what happens when you’re slightly off.

“It’s only our second loss of the season and this has to fuel us to now work harder. I don’t want boys coming away thinking we’re not that good – we are. We earned our place at the top of the league, but when you get to the top, you have a target on your back, and especially here, where Kelso had a massive crowd who want to beat us more than anything else in the league.

“We have a big game before the break and we now have to rise to that challenge.”

Gamble was glad to see his side make up ground on the top four points-wise even if they remain static in the table, saying: “That feels so good.

“It’s a massive win. There was a real energy about the place today and I just felt something special was going to happen.

“Melrose are a top side but we matched them, and I think the work we did in the first 70 minutes gave us the chance to go and finish it in the last ten. A big part of that was the boys off the bench, who gave us all a massive lift.

“We have spoken a lot recently about what leadership means, and it’s not just about talking – it’s about actions and leading on the pitch, and you saw boys right across the team stepping up today and leading.”

Hawick’s tries were touched down by inside-centre Andrew Mitchell and hooker Fraser Renwick at the double, the former playing his 150th game for the club, with full-back Bailey Donaldson kicking three conversions and two penalties.

Replying for their Edinburgh opponents were Max Garry, Preston Brydon, Matthew Pritchard and Boston Kerapa with a try apiece and Bruce Weatherhead with two conversions.

Hogg credited his team’s kicking game for helping them literally weather a storm, Boelo in this case, to secure victory, saying: “We knew conditions were going to play a big part in it and we looked at our team selection round about that in terms of having multiple kickers of the ball, which we haven’t had the last few weeks.

“Harry Weir at 13 naturally plays at ten and can kick the ball, and Bailey Donaldson, back at 15, just relieves pressure massively for us. I thought he was outstanding.

“We got a bit lucky in terms of playing into the elements in the first half, but I thought our game management on the whole, in terms of getting us into the right areas, was much better than it has been this season.”