Andrew Grant-Suttie on the attack during Selkirk’s 41-10 home win against Glasgow Hawks on Saturday in rugby’s Arnold Clark Premiership (Photo: Grant Kinghorn)Andrew Grant-Suttie on the attack during Selkirk’s 41-10 home win against Glasgow Hawks on Saturday in rugby’s Arnold Clark Premiership (Photo: Grant Kinghorn)
Andrew Grant-Suttie on the attack during Selkirk’s 41-10 home win against Glasgow Hawks on Saturday in rugby’s Arnold Clark Premiership (Photo: Grant Kinghorn)

​No fear for Selkirk ahead of first Borders derby of new Arnold Clark Premiership rugby season at Kelso

​Selkirk have issued a warning to Kelso ahead of the first Borders derby of the new Arnold Clark Premiership rugby season this Saturday that they’re not afraid of any of the opposition they’ll come up against this time round.

​The Souters won the corresponding game last term by 21-19 away last October, though they went on to lose December’s reverse fixture by 27-0, and they’re hoping to pull off another upset at Poynder Park this weekend.

They go into that away-day on the back of a 41-10 win against Glasgow Hawks at home at Philiphaugh on Saturday gone, with Kelso having lost out by 21-17 on the road at Musselburgh at the same time.

Those results – two games into the current campaign, following a 36-31 win for Kelso hosting Watsonians and a 40-10 hiding for Selkirk at Marr on opening day – leave the former in fourth place on six points and the latter sixth on five.

Selkirk’s tries against their Glaswegian visitors were scored by No 8 Kieran Westlake, right-winger Josh Welsh, scrum-half Hugo Alderson, outside-centre Andrew Grant-Suttie and lock Jack Fisher, with Alderson adding four conversions and two penalties and replacement No 9 Oliver McClymont another conversion.

Left-winger Ryan Flett scored Hawks’ only try, with fly-half Liam Brims adding a conversion and penalty.

Blindside flanker and co-head coach Bruce McNeil touched down twice for Kelso in East Lothian, with fly-half and co-captain Dwain Patterson converting both tries and also kicking a penalty.

Their Stoneyhill hosts’ tries were scored by blindside flanker Michael Badenhorst, right-winger Tom Foley and No 8 Tom Currie, with fly-half Danny Owenson converting all three.

Selkirk replacement Bruce Riddell insists his side will head east to Kelso this weekend feeling confident, despite the five league places and 18 points separating the two teams at the end of last season, telling Borders Rugby TV: “We’ll analyse Saturday’s game and look at where we can improve.

“It was a great game but there’s still a lot of improvements to make out there and we’ll take that into the Kelso match and we’ll really go there and try and show what we can do.

“We’re not going to fear any team in this league. We want to go out and play. We want to prove that we’re here to play.”

Kelso director of rugby Neil Hinnigan is hoping for a reaction from his side against Selkirk after failing to build on a 17-14 half-time lead and returning from the Firth of Forth with only a losing bonus point to show for their efforts, saying: “After half-time, Musselburgh were the better team by a long, long way.

“There was some very determined play from Musselburgh. It wasn’t a spectacle by any means – it was an error-strewn game for both sides – but the home side just wanted it that bit more.

“Full credit to Musselburgh on the result – they were very determined. There was some great defence by the home side and it was a really deserved victory for them.

“It was a disappointing day for Kelso, no doubt about it – it was not a great performance – but we’ll lick our wounds and get back to training ready for Selkirk.”

Kick-off at Poynder Park on Saturday is at 3pm.

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