Jed-Forest safe from threat of relegation to rugby’s Tennent’s National League Division 1 after third bonus-point win on trot

A third bonus-point win on the bounce means Jed-Forest are now mathematically safe from any threat of relegation from rugby’s Tennent’s Premiership and could even end up in the running for a top-half finish.
By Darin Hutson
Published 17th Jan 2023, 11:13 BST
Updated 17th Jan 2023, 11:13 BST
Jed-Forest on the attack during their 41-13 home win against Glasgow Hutchesons' Aloysians on Saturday (Photo: Steve Cox)Jed-Forest on the attack during their 41-13 home win against Glasgow Hutchesons' Aloysians on Saturday (Photo: Steve Cox)
Jed-Forest on the attack during their 41-13 home win against Glasgow Hutchesons' Aloysians on Saturday (Photo: Steve Cox)

Their 41-13 home win at Jedburgh’s Riverside Park against Glasgow Hutchesons’ Aloysians on Saturday leaves head coach Andrew Brown’s team sitting seventh in the table, on 33 points from 15 games – eight points behind fifth-placed Marr with three matches of the regular season left to go.

Mason Cullen got his tenth try of the campaign to put him third on the leaderboard for the table – after Craig Robertson’s 15 for Heriot’s Blues and Kody McGovern’s 12 for Currie Chieftains – and Owen Cranston, Garry Young, Clark Skeldon, Gregor Young twice and Robbie Shirra-Gibb also touched down for the hosts, with Finlay Scott adding three conversions.

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Archie Falconer scored GHA’s only try, with Chris Hyde adding a conversion and two penalties.

Robbie Shirra-Gibb putting a tackle in for Jed-Forest versus GHA (Pic: Steve Cox)Robbie Shirra-Gibb putting a tackle in for Jed-Forest versus GHA (Pic: Steve Cox)
Robbie Shirra-Gibb putting a tackle in for Jed-Forest versus GHA (Pic: Steve Cox)

Next up for Jed is a trip to Marr this coming Saturday, with kick-off at 2pm, and they’ll be aiming to pull off a winning double against their South Ayrshire hosts, having beaten them 32-31 in the Borders in October.

Brown was delighted by the display put on by his team versus GHA, telling Borders Rugby TV afterwards: “It was a great performance by not just the starting XV but the whole 20-man squad.

“Our performance, in the first half to outscore them into the wind and then to come out in the second half and nil them, was outstanding.

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“We put the complete performance together and to finish with 41 points was outstanding.

Jed-Forest getting shirty with GHA on Saturday (Pic: Steve Cox)Jed-Forest getting shirty with GHA on Saturday (Pic: Steve Cox)
Jed-Forest getting shirty with GHA on Saturday (Pic: Steve Cox)

“We’re getting there all the time.

“We knew when we played Selkirk, Hawick and Currie Chieftains that we weren’t too far away, but we just needed to click, and fortunately when we went to Glasgow Hawks, it clicked and we got the win and the belief slowly came back.”

Looking ahead to this weekend’s match in Troon, he added: “It’s always going to be a challenge going away – it’s a fair bus journey – but we’ve got nothing to lose.

“They’re obviously pushing for the play-offs, but we can just go over there and focus on ourselves and worry about us.”

Related topics:Andrew BrownPremiership