Highland 30-36 Melrose: Grigg's men stay in promotion hunt with win

Bert Grigg's men won away from homeBert Grigg's men won away from home
Bert Grigg's men won away from home
Melrose head coach Bert Grigg was delighted that his men recovered from a slow start to stay in the Tennent’s National League Division 1 promotion hunt on Saturday with a 36-30 bonus point success at Highland which saw the Borders team go fourth on 35 points from nine matches.

Grigg told Borders Rugby TV: “It was an entertaining game for sure.

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"I would hate to think of the last time a team won by four tries up there, taking the five points away from home.

"Probably the first 20 minutes didn’t go our way, Highland going a couple of scores up.

"But every time we had the ball we looked dangerous, we just didn’t see it enough in the first 20 and the last 20.

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Despite the sluggish start, Melrose improved as the game went on and doubles from Struan Hutchison, Ben McLean and tries from wingers Archie Pilcher and Hamish Weir made sure that Grigg’s team came away with the victory.

The Greenyards supremo added: "The boys fronted up really well and stopped Highland from playing as much as they could.

"They defended probably 20-plus phases a couple of times which was really good to see, which we hadn’t seen the previous couple of games.

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"The boys played well and headed back home with the five points which are going to keep us in that promotion fight for the rest of the season.”

This Saturday, the latest round of league fixtures sees Melrose host Stewart's Melville on Friday evening with kick-off at 8pm.

It’s been a poor season for Melville so far as they are bottom on seven points from nine games.

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