​Melrose and Gala get off to losing starts in rugby’s Scottish National League Division 1

​Melrose were beaten 42-26 at Glasgow Hutchesons’ Aloysians and Gala were handed a 69-17 hiding by Edinburgh’s Watsonians.

Ben McLean, Elliot Ruthven, Angus Runciman and Harry Makowski scored Melrose’s tries at Braidholm, with Struan Hutchison converting three of them.

Martin Hughes, Kyle Dixon, Max MacFarlane twice, Glen Little and Ruari Campbell touched down for the hosts, with Ruari O’Keefe adding six conversions.

Gala’s tries at the capital’s Myreside Stadium were scored by Neil Turnbull, Jack Easson and Liam Scott, all in the first half, with Ethan Wilson adding a conversion.

Both sets of Borderers are at home this coming Saturday, Melrose to Glasgow High Kelvinside and Gala to GHA, with kick-offs at 3pm.

New Melrose head coach Iain Chisholm was disappointed to see his side get off to a losing start, telling Borders Rugby TV: “It was a frustrating way to start the season for sure.

“I felt that we were in a good place going into the game. I felt we had a good plan to get after GHA.

“To be successful against a bigger side, we needed to move our front five around and stop the game going from set-piece to set-piece, escpecially early on. We felt that if we were able to do that, we’d give ourselves a chance of competing at scrum time and even at mauls, but that proved to be the sticking point for us.

“Over the course of the game, we conceded about six scrum penalties and that gave GHA easy access to our half and it gave them opportunities to do what they’re good at.

“In the first half, we gave them opportunities when it looked like we might score, through skill errors or forced offloads when we needed to be a wee bit more patient, but there were good periods of play for us that allowed us to stay in the game and ultimately get a four-try bonus point.

“If we want to be in the mix come Christmas, we need to pick up points every and any way we can.

“A lot of what went wrong was around our decision-making and running detail and those are easy fixes.

“There’s lots to learn and work on going into next week but we’re looking to get our season up and running against a GHK side that’ll be confident and excited after getting a win against Biggar.”

New Gala captain Angus Dun was also unhappy with how his team performed, saying: “I’m very disappointed with our performance as a team.

“Credit to Watsonians, they were the far better side on that pitch.

“They played a lot of physical rugby and brought a lot os peed to their game, which we couldn’t handle.

“At half-time, it was reasonably close and we were still within touching distance but maybe our poor discipline in the second half let them have a lot more opportunities than we’d have liked.

“I don’t think there’s a massive amount that needs to change. It’s just about how we execute what we’re doing in training on the pitch.

“GHA at home is going to be another tough game but I think the boys want to right Saturday’s wrongs, so we’ll go from there.”