​Melrose edge out Gala by 15-10 for eighth Waverley Cup win

That was their second victory over Gala at the Greenyards this season, having also got the better of them by 53-31 in a Scottish National League Division 1 fixture and Border League double-header at the end of September.

Their regional rivals have another chance to make amends this campaign, however, as they host Melrose at Netherdale in Galashiels in the league on Saturday, January 13, with kick-off at 3pm.

Melrose go into that rescheduled fixture, orginally lined up for the start of this month, sitting second in the table, with 44 points from 14 games, Gala being seventh, on 33 from 13, but the tale of the tape in focus this week was the Greenyards side taking their tally of Boxing Day cup wins to eight since 2006, two more than their rivals, with one game having been drawn.

Tuesday’s game was the first time Melrose have claimed the cup – put up by Sykes Global services’ Galashiels office, a sponsor of both teams – since a 38-15 away victory in 2018, Gala having won it away by 26-14 in 2019 and, after a two-year break enforced by coronavirus restrictions, by 43-15 at home in 2022.

Melrose’s try-scorers were ​second-rower Elliot Ruthven and flanker Craig Fairbairn, with captain Struan Hutchison adding a conversion and penalty.

Their visitors also scored two tries, centre Dan Nicholson and winger Ben Gill touching down for the men in maroon.

Former Southern Knight Hutchison was delighted to see his team win the cup for the first time in five years, telling the Offside Line afterwards: “It was a close game, but a Boxing Day game is always going to be like that.

“We were pleased to get over the line. In the first half, we got ourselves into good positions but passes didn’t quite stick.

“The half-time message was to keep at it and we scored first in the second half, but Gala hung in there for the full 80 minutes.”

Looking ahead to 2024, he added: “Ayr won the league before Christmas, so our focus now is to try to finish in second place.

“Strangely, our next league game is against Gala away, and that’s going to be another feisty affair, and then we have three or four games after that.

“Hopefully we can pick up points in the remaining games.

“We’ve then got the Border League to go for and, of course, the sevens.

“If I’m being honest we’ll probably start building for next year.”

Gala back-row Craig Keddie is also hoping for better fortune next year after concluding 2023 with Tuesday’s derby defeat, saying: “I don’t think I’ve played in front of such a large crowd for a long time, but that’s the nature of the Boxing Day derby. It was great to see both sides of the ground packed and behind the posts as well.

“Melrose took their chances, it was as simple as that. We had a lot of possession in the first half and probably had the edge in the first half but didn’t convert it into points on the scoreboard.

“We did in the last ten minutes of the game, but that was probably a case of too little too late.

“If we were being honest with ourselves, it was the detail round the set-piece that let us down, particularly the lineout. Maybe that’s because it’s been a bit disjointed in the last few weeks – we’ve not had a game recently – but we’ve got a good run in the new year and we can sort out those problems.

“We’ve got Melrose next and it’s at Netherdale.”