Gala targeting first win since January at home to Jed-Forest for derby
Gala host Jed-Forest this coming Saturday for their first Borders derby of the new Arnold Clark National League Division 1 rugby season and they’ll be out to halt a losing streak stretching back eight fixtures and almost as many months.
The Maroons last won back in January, by 21-14 at home to Boroughmuir, and they’ve lost all six of their national league fixtures since, including their first three of this term, plus two stand-alone Border League matches in August.
Gala captain and No 8 Craig Keddie reckons he’s seeing cause for encouragement, though, and he’s hoping that continues this Saturday at Netherdale, with kick-off at 3pm.
“We started off well and our attacking was a lot more aggressive and accurate than it’s been for the last few weeks, but I think we kind of switched off after that,” he told Borders Rugby TV afterwards.
“We gave away a few tries by combining errors, which let them back into the game, and eventually they pulled away from us.
“There are definitely some work-ons to take away. Defensively we need to be a lot stronger and we’re giving away too many penalties, taking ourselves out of the game essentially and not having enough possession.
“We’ve definitely got some work-ons for next week heading into Jed-Forest coming.”
Gala won last September’s corresponding fixture by 20-14 and also got the better of Jed on the road two months later, by 18-7.
They were in different divisions the season before but did meet for a stand-alone Border League match, won 24-21 by Gala away in March 2024.
See also …