Jed-Forest celebrating first away win for over a year after getting better of basement side Dundee

That was the Jedburgh outfit’s first away victory for over a year, their last one having been away to Edinburgh’s Heriot’s at the start of last January, by 30-24.

​The region’s other two representatives in the division, Gala and Peebles, both lost at the weekend, by 31-24 away to Biggar and 39-30 hosting table-toppers Glasgow Hutchesons’ Aloysians respectively.

Those results leave all three as they were – Gala fourth, Jed fifth and Peebles eighth. Gala are on 38 points from 14 fixtures, Jed on 35 from 14 and the Pees on 24 from 13.

Next up for Jed and Peebles is a derby at the former’s Riverside Park home ground this coming Saturday, with Gala hosting second-from-bottom Boroughmuir at Netherdale the same time, both those matches being 3pm kick-offs.

October’s reverse fixtures yielded a 35-24 win for Peebles at the Gytes and a 39-30 defeat for Gala in the capital.

Touching down for Jed, captained by Clark Skeldon, at Dundee’s Mayfield playing fields on Saturday were scrum-half Robbie Douglas, openside flanker Finn Scott, No 8 Garry Young, full-back Lewis Young, right-winger Matthew Beaton and fly-half Aaron Weatherhead, with Scott adding four conversions and a penalty.

Douglas and Beaton’s were their first tries for their club, 15 games and 12 on from their debuts.

Their hosts’ tries were scored by Ollie Stoops, Sam Higgins and Callum Nicol, with captain Grant Harley kicking two conversions.

Jed head coach Stuart Johnson was pleased to return south with not only his side’s sixth win of the season but also their seventh try bonus point, telling Borders Rugby TV afterwards: “It was a good result up at Dundee.

“I’d said we needed five points and we’ve come away with five points.

“It was our first away win of the season, which is big, and it keeps us away from that bottom three as well. I’m really happy with five points.

“Bits of the performance we could improve on but we’ll put that down to rustiness. All in all, I’m happy and we’ll move on now to what is going to be a huge game against Peebles.”

Scrum-half Ritchie Mitchell at the double and outside-centre Callum Pate scored head coach Ewen Robbie’s Maroons’ tries in South Lanarkshire, with fly-half Russell Kerr converting two of them and also kicking a penalty and replacement Scott Peffers also contributing a conversion.

Touching down for their hosts were Rowan Stewart at the double, Gary Adams and Jordan Duncan, with Danny Williamson adding three conversions and Euan Bogle another and a penalty.

Gala captain Angus Dun was disappointed to see his side lose out for the sixth time this season, saying: “It was a tough day at Biggar.

“It was back and forth throughout the whole game and them scoring just before half-time didn’t help. It just wasn’t good enough.”

​Peebles’ ninth loss of the season leaves them languishing in the relegation zone but head coach Graeme Paterson was heartened by picking up a try bonus point against the undefeated league leaders.

Peebles were 18-6 up at half-time and 30-20 ahead later on but couldn’t keep hold of that lead, eventually having to settle for their fifth try bonus point of the current campaign.

Paterson told Borders Rugby TV afterwards: “We got a point out of the game. It would have been great to get more than that obviously, but we’ve just got to regroup and concentrate on our last five games.

“There were some really good performances by a lot of players. I certainly couldn’t have asked for any more effort from them. There were just a couple of wee decisions round about some key areas that went against us.

“It was a really good game but how frustrating it must have been for the boys as they put a hell of a lot of effort in.

“We’ll take the point and move on to next week and look forward to seeing Jed down at Riverside.”

The Pees’ try-scorers were left-winger David Collins at the double, hooker Matt Carryer and blindside flanker Finlay Collins, with fly-half Rory McHaffie kicking two penalties and two conversions.