Fifth place in rugby’s Arnold Clark Premiership looking a dead cert for Selkirk after 53-24 win at home to Musselburgh
Selkirk have as good as secured themselves a fifth-placed finish in rugby’s Arnold Clark Premiership with a 53-24 win at home to already-relegated basement side Musselburgh on Saturday.
Mathematically, fourth place is still within reach for the Souters and they could yet be overtaken by seventh-placed Hawick and forced to settle for sixth, but either of those outcomes would require a combination of unlikely scorelines.
Head coach Gordon Henderson’s fifth-placed Selkirk side are currently on 60 points from 20 fixtures, nine shy of fourth-placed Currie Chieftains and ten ahead of Hawick with a points-scored difference 92 better, both the Edinburgh outfit and the Greens having two games left to go too.
The Souters’ run-in starts with a trip west to Ayr this coming Saturday as they attempt to become the first team to avoid defeat there this season by denying the table-toppers a winning double, having lost September’s reverse fixture at Philiphaugh 33-12, and they conclude their campaign away to Glasgow Hawks on Saturday, April 5. Both those matches are 3pm kick-offs.
Left-winger Ben Pickles got a hat-trick of tries for Selkirk against Musselburgh and also on the scoresheet were outside-centre Andrew Grant-Suttie at the double, blindside flanker Dylan Bronlund, inside-centre Ross Nixon, lock Kieran Westlake and substitute No 12 Brodie Allan, with scrum-half Hugo Alderson adding three conversions and his replacement Oliver McClymont another.
Their visitors’ tries were scored by Tom Foley, Ross Brown at the double and Murray McCowan, with Danny Owenson converting two.
Welcoming Selkirk’s 11th win of this term, loosehead prop Luke Pettie told Borders Rugby TV: “We really played some exciting rugby, scoring some great tries and putting a show on for our final home game of the season.”