Fourth win of new Tennent’s Premiership rugby season puts Selkirk within four points of tally for entirety of last campaign

Selkirk's Zen Szwagrzak handing the ball to fellow front-rower Bruce Riddell during their side's 28-14 victory at home to Glasgow Hutchesons' Aloysians on Saturday (Photo: Grant Kinghorn)

Their 28-14 victory hosting Glasgow Hutchesons’ Aloysians at the weekend was their fourth of the new term, outstripping the three wins in 18 games they mustered last time out, and with 20 points on the board, the fifth-placed Souters could surpass last season’s tally of 24 away to Marr on Saturday, kick-off being at 3pm.

Head coach Scott Wight says he’s impressed by the character and resilience that have seen his side pick up points this season from displays he believes are far short of their potential.

“If I could get a more consistent 80 minutes out of the boys, we’d be really, really hard to beat,” he said.

Andrew Grant-Suttie on the charge for Selkirk against Glasgow Hutchesons' Aloysians at the weekend (Photo: Grant Kinghorn)

“We just seem to be playing in fits and starts. We gave away a lot of penalties in the first half and we weren’t accurate enough and didn’t keep hold of the ball for long periods of time, but if you look at the second half, we finished the game a lot stronger this week.

“It’s just up to us as a coaching team to get the players to be more consistent over 80 minutes.”

Wight believes the Souters have come on leaps and bounds since last season, though, thanks in no small part to their injury crises then not recurring thus far.

“If we win on Saturday, we’ll have more points than we got in the whole of last season,” he said.

Try-scorer Monroe Job in action for Selkirk against Glasgow Hutchesons' Aloysians at the weekend (Pic: Grant Kinghorn)

“If somebody had said at the start of the season that they’d give me 20 points after six games, I’d have snapped their hand off.

“When you look at a stat like that, it shows we’re probably a year and a wee bit wiser.

“Both players and coaching staff went through a really tough time last year with injuries and stuff, so it’s great to see the squad stay mainly injury-free. It just shows that when we do stay clear of injuries, we can compete in the premiership.

“We always strive for perfection but it’s just about impossible in a game of rugby.”

Ross Nixon on the attack for Selkirk versus GHA at the weekend (Pic: Grant Kinghorn)

The hosts’ try-scorers were Zen Szwagrzak, Monrose Job and Bruce Riddell, with Aaron McColm adding three penalties and two conversions.

Archie Falconer and captain Dario Ewing got GHA’s tries, Chris Hyde converting both.

Possibly equally tellling, though, was the number of yellow cards shown, Selkirk getting away with one, for Riddell, to the visitors’ three, for Gregor Drummond, Sean Callaghan and Adam Kerr.