Jed-Forest hoping to finish in top half of rugby's Tennent's Premiership table after beating basement side Aberdeen Grammar

Lewis Young on the ball for Jed-Forest against Aberdeen Grammar (Photo: Bill McBurnie)

The Jedburgh side now sit sixth in the table with 24 points from 12 games, three points ahead of seventh-placed Selkirk and with a game in hand, though eight points behind fifth-placed Glasgow Hawks.

Aberdeen, however, now look destined for the drop, being 12 points adrift of second-bottom Glasgow Hutchesons’ Aloysians and with only five games left to play once the season resumes next month.

Jed-Forest’s try-scorers at Riverside Park were Mason Cullen, Darren Gillespie at the double, Craig Cowan, Dan Wardrop and Paulo Ferraira, with Gary Munro adding three conversions and two penalties.

Lewis Young being supported by Rory Marshall on the charge against Aberdeen (Photo: Bill McBurnie)

Aberdeen’s sole score was a Tom Aplin penalty early on, giving them a lead they were soon to relinquish.

Jed’s next Premiership game is at home to second-placed Marr on Saturday, January 8, with kick-off at 3pm.

Prior to that visit from the South Ayrshire side, though, they’ve got a Border League game lined up for tonight at home to Gala, with kick-off at 7.30pm.

Jed’s Rory Marshall was delighted with their bonus-point win at the weekend, telling Borders Rugby TV: “We’ve done a lot of week through the work at training and stuff and the boys have come out on top, so it’s a great day.

Finlay Campbell with the ball for Jed-Forest, supported by Jack Howe, against Aberdeen Grammar (Photo: Bill McBurnie)

“We’ve worked hard, on hard ball-carrying and stuff, and it showed.

“Our forwards were outstanding – Gregor Law there, for example, in the second row, was carrying really hard.

“It was a good all-round performance.”

The Borderers’ head coach, Scott Tomlinson, was equally chuffed, telling the Offside Line: “That result eases us a bit closer to safety but it’s not over yet. We’ve moved up to sixth and we want to be in that top half of the league. That’s where we should be.

“The Jed back division has been lightning for the last 10 years, but those boys are getting older and teams are also ready for that, so we have got good at shutting our space down. We have to be clever, and we’ve worked hard to become more dominant up front. We’ve got a good bench as well.”