Gala remain top of rugby’s Tennent’s National League Division 1 after back-to-back bonus-point wins

Aberdeen Grammar go mob-handed to try to halt a charge by Gala's Marius Tamosaitis (Photo: Alwyn Johnston)

Gala stay on top of rugby’s Tennent’s National League Division 1 after beginning the new season by racking up back-to-back bonus-points victories.

Head coach Stuart Johnson’s side saw off Aberdeen Grammar 34-12 at home at Netherdale in Galashiels on Saturday to keep themselves a point clear, on ten, at the top of the table.

That win was part of a clean sweep for the Borders’ teams in the division at the weekend, totting up more than 100 points between them in the process, as Kelso and Melrose also emerged triumphant from their home fixtures, the former 34-14 against Glasgow High Kelvinside and the latter 40-19 versus Edinburgh’s Watsonians.

Kelso are now second in the 12-team table with nine points and Melrose fifth with five ahead of round three of the current campaign this coming Saturday.

Gala try-scorer Keith Young going past Aberdeen Grammar's Jonathan Spence and Glen Robertson at Netherdale on Saturday (Pic: Alwyn Johnston)

All three of the region’s sides are on the road this weekend – Gala at Dundee, Kelso at Biggar and Melrose at Ayr, all those games kicking off at 3pm.

Gala’s tries against second-bottom Aberdeen were scored by Callum Pate, Taylor Wilson, Harris Rutherford, Keith Young, Glenn McCrum and Ben Gill, with Rutherford converting two.

Touching down for the Aberdonians were Paddy Ritchie and Mark Galloway, the latter’s score converted by Sam Knudson.

Kelso’s try-scorers were Liam Herdman, Murray Hastie, Andy Tait, Keith Melbourne and Kevin Dryden, with Dwain Patterson adding three conversions and a penalty.

Gala captain Liam Scott on the charge against Aberdeen Grammar on Saturday (Pic: Alwyn Johnston)

Crossing the line for GHK were Angus North and Angus Troop, with Owen McLeish converting both.

Going over for Melrose were Struan Hutchison, Donald Crawford, Hamish Weir, Ben McLean twice and James O’Neill, with Hutchison converting four and Luke Townsend one.

Gala try-scorer Young was delighted to see his side keeping up their 100% record but reckons there’s plenty of room for improvement, telling Borders Rugby TV: “It was a good run-out from the boys.

“We knew Aberdeen would be a stuffy side and they put us under a lot of pressure.

Kelso beating GHK 34-14 at the weekend (Photo: Charles Brooker)

“There were a lot of errors from us, but that’s to be expected with it being only the second game of the season.

“We got the bonus point but it could have been a lot more.”

Kelso scrum-half Andy Tait, though happy enough with his side’s display, also believes them to be a work in progress rather than the finished article, saying: “It wasn’t a vintage performance by us.

“GHK dug deep and we lost control a bit in the first period but regained it, but those are things we’re working on. We’re taking learnings from last season and it’s about how we control those parts of the game, and when we’re not in control, really working hard to not concede and gain control back.

Andy Tait touching down for Kelso against GHK at home at Poynder Park on Saturday (Pic: Charles Brooker)

“Biggar’s a hard place to go, we know that, but, at the same time, it’s all about us and for us it’s all about progression from last season.”

Melrose head coach Bert Grigg added: “It was a good win for us at the Greenyards.

“Everything seemed to click, unlike up at Stirling County a couple of weeks ago.

“Our lineout functioned really well and we were just really clinical at turning defence into attack.”