​Kelso out of Arnold Clark Premiership’s relegation zone after first Borders derby win of season

​Their 30-10 victory at Poynder Park, making amends for a 31-28 defeat in the reverse fixture at the Greenyards in October, lifts them up one place in the table to ninth, on 30 points from 16 fixtures, with Edinburgh Academical moving one spot in the opposite direction into the three-deep drop-zone after losing 21-17 away to Glasgow Hawks at the weekend.

Co-head coaches Scott Wight and Iain Chisholm’s Melrose remain sixth, on 40 points from 16 games.

This coming Saturday’s fixture card offers Kelso an opportunity to put further distance between themselves and the relegation places as they’re away to Accies, with kick-off at 2pm.

Co-head coaches Bruce McNeil and Nikki Walker’s side will also be out to avoid letting the capital outfit claim a winning double against them, having lost the reverse fixture on home turf by 38-19 in October, and the same goes for Melrose as they host Ayr, with kick-off an hour later, after losing 45-9 away to the table-toppers on the west coast that same day.

Kelso’s try-scorers against Melrose were No 8 McNeil, openside flanker Murray Woodcock and scrum-half Andy Tait, with right-winger Dwain Patterson converting all three and also kicking three penalties.

Touching down for their visitors were blindside flanker Allan Ferrie at the double and left-winger Corey Goldsbrough, with fly-half Luke Townsend and replacement Struan Hutchison adding a conversion apiece.

Kelso hooker Euan Knox is happy to see his team heading up the table at long last and is hoping they can now build up some momentum, telling Borders Rugby TV afterwards: “We knew what was going to come from Melrose – we always knew what they were going to bring – but we also knew our group could come out and show what we can do, and we came out on top, which is always the main thing.

“Sometimes it wasn’t pretty out there but sometimes we did have our foot on their throat and we went for it, and that’s all our coaches really asked for this week.

“It’s a win on the board, so we can’t complain.

“Right to the end, for the full 80 minutes, Melrose were sticking in, and credit to them, they gave us a good, hard battle.”

Looking ahead, Knox added: “We are in a relegation battle but we’re trying to get out of it and we’re going the right way.

“We’ve still got plenty of games to go and we’ll keep fighting to the end.

“Next week, that’s huge. It’s do or die, I’d say.”

Melrose lock and captain Angus Runciman added: “It was always going to be a tough game here. It’s never easy.

“The guys stuck in, to be fair, but Kelso just played on top of us and in the right places on the pitch for them.

“I think we probably played a wee bit too much in our own half and maybe didn’t clear well anough and whatever else and just left Kelso to run riot in the gold zone.

“There are still six games left and a potential 30 points. A win would have seen us possibly leapfrog to fourth but no such luck.

“We just need to get as many points from our remaining games. The middle of the table’s very competitive and a lot of guys can jump up and down, so we just need to try and get as many points as we can and remain where we are.”

See also …

https://www.thesouthernreporter.co.uk/sport/rugby-union/selkirk-go-fourth-in-rugbys-arnold-clark-premiership-after-borders-derby-win-hosting-hawick-4983847