Kelso’s lead at top of rugby’s Tennent’s National League Division 1 cut to single point

Kelso beat Watsonians 25-13 at Edinburgh’s Myreside Stadium to retain possession of pole position, with Gala edging out Stirling County 24-20 at Bridgehaugh Park and Melrose getting the better of Highland by 27-21 at home at the Greenyards.

Those results leave their league positions unchanged, Kelso staying on top on 83 points from 19 fixtures, with Melrose third on 75 from the same number of games and Gala fourth on 61 points, having played one game fewer.

Second-placed Ayr have narrowed the gap between them and Kelso to a single point, however, following their 33-10 bonus-point victory hosting Biggar at the weekend, setting up the South Ayrshire side’s visit to the Borderers’ Poynder Park home ground this coming Saturday, with kick-off at 3pm, as a potential title decider.

A Borders derby is on offer this Saturday too, the Maroons hosting Melrose at Netherdale, also at 3pm, with the visitors looking to pull off a winning double after beating their Galashiels rivals 63-15 in the reverse fixture at the Greenyards at the end of November.

Kelso’s tries in the capital were touched down by Keith Melbourne, Bruce McNeil and Murray Hastie, with Liam Herdman kicking a drop-goal and Dwain Patterson adding a penalty and two conversions.

Lewis Burns touched down for the hosts, with Ben Heber kicking two penalties and a conversion.

On the scoresheet for Gala in Stirling were Keith Young, Lachlan Johnston, James Glendinning and Murray Wilson with tries, two of them converted by Craig Dods.

Melrose’s scorers against Highland were Elliot Ruthven, Calum Crookshanks, Struan Hutchison and David Colvine with tries and Colvine with a penalty and two conversions.

Touching down for their Inverness opposition were Euan Milton, Junior Waqanibau and Scott Fraser, with Fraser converting all three.

Kelso captain Frankie Robson was delighted to see his side claim their 17th win of the season, telling Borders Rugby TV afterwards: “It was tough. Watsonians have got a bit of a scrap in them and they pushed us right to the end of the 80 minutes. They get right stuck into you.

“They’re a good team and they’ve got everything to fight for. They’re fighting to stay in this league.

“We showed a lot of spirit to kick on when they came right back into the game halfway through the second half and we finished the stronger of the two teams.”

Kelso edged out Ayr by 22-21 in their previous meeting of this season on the west coast at the end of November and Robson is hoping they can repeat that feat this weekend, saying: “It’s all eyes on Ayr coming to Poynder next week now, which we can’t wait for. We’re champing at the bit for that.

“We have to find a way of beating them, which we did over there. It was a tough old game and we only came out better by a point at the end.

“They’ll be raring to go and they’ll have some demons to expel from that day, I’m sure.”