Hosts Selkirk looking forward despite injuries to back row

It was a disappointing return to league tasks for Selkirk after the autumn break, as they went down last week to a late Jed-Forest surge.
Frazer Anderson helps mount an attack for Selkirk in the defeat by Jed-Forest (picture by Grant Kinghorn)Frazer Anderson helps mount an attack for Selkirk in the defeat by Jed-Forest (picture by Grant Kinghorn)
Frazer Anderson helps mount an attack for Selkirk in the defeat by Jed-Forest (picture by Grant Kinghorn)

But the Souters are hoping to get back on track and resume a largely impressive series of results when they welcome Musselburgh to Philiphaugh tomorrow (Saturday).

The hosts know it will be a tricky game, with enforced changes becuse of injuries to their entire back row – and the fact Musselburgh are in menacing form just now.

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The East Lothian side looked out of it last Saturday as they trailed Gala by more than 20 points, but chewed their way back to win the game 41-39 in the last quarter.

Selkirk manager Tom Ramage, however, was looking forward to a good, open game and hoped once again that Selkirk’s pacey players could cause problems for the visitors.

Against Jed-Forest, tries by Josh Welsh and Peter Forrest were complemented by a Rory Banks penalty and a conversion for Welsh.

“I was very disappointed that we never got any points out of the game,” he said. “It went right to the wire – it was 15-17 with minutes to go and then they got a runaway try, to give them a wee bit of polish on the end of their display.

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“But I would say we had 50-50, if not more, of the ball – we just couldn’t capitalise.

“We made mistakes and there was good defence by Jed – and a lot of turnovers, which didn’t help our cause.

“But we are still scoring tries and our scrummaging was really good. Lineouts are sometimes a bit dodgy and they (Jed) had the upper hand in the loose play. This week, we’ll be working on our set pieces, lineouts and scrums and just try to be more agressive in the breakdown.”

Musselburgh had a big forward pack, which was always good to take on with Selkirk’s young, mobile players, said Ramage.

Selkirk will be without their on-form regular back row, with Sean Nixon and Ewan MacDougall joining Josh MacKay on the injury list, but they have depth in reserve in the back five.