​Selkirk now region’s top dogs in table after derby win v Melrose

​That derby victory at Philiphaugh saw head coach Gordon Henderson’s Souters rack up a winning double against their regional rivals after edging them out 24-22 in the reverse fixture at the Greenyards at the end of September.

It lifts them up one place in the table to fifth, level on 37 points with co-head coaches Scott Wight and Iain Chisholm’s Melrose, now down one spot to sixth, but with a points-scored difference 20 better and a game in hand, having played 13 to their 14.

Hawick are up one place to seventh, on 30 points from 13 fixtures, despite losing 33-32 away to Edinburgh’s Watsonians at the weekend and Kelso remain tenth, on 26 from 14, after notching up their fourth win of the season by 26-12 at home to Marr.

Selkirk and Kelso are both on the road this coming Saturday, at ninth-placed Edinburgh Academical and table-toppers Ayr respectively, and Hawick and Melrose are at home, to basement side Musselburgh and eighth-placed Glasgow Hawks.

All those games kick off at 3pm except Selkirk’s, that one being due to start an hour earlier.

October’s reverse fixtures yielded victories by 37-23 on home turf for the Souters, 43-28 for the Greens in East Lothian and 31-26 for Melrose in Glasgow and a 48-19 defeat for Kelso at Poynder Park.

Selkirk’s try-scorers against Melrose were blindside flanker Dylan Bronlund, hooker Corey Tait, lock Jack Fisher, right-winger Josh Welsh and full-back Callum Anderson, with scrum-half Hugo Alderson converting all five.

Touching down for their visitors with tries were hooker Logan Kirk at the double, No 8 Ruairidh Lindsay and openside flanker Elliot Ruthven, with fly-half Struan Hutchison adding three conversions and a penalty.

Selkirk try-scorer Fisher was delighted to see his side record their seventh win of the season, telling Borders Rugby TV afterwards: “We went in at half-time and it was 21-all and we just said ‘look, we know we’ve got this in the bag if we perform to the level we can’.

“We then went back out there and luckily we got the result that I think we deserved.

“We’re not the biggest team in the league so we need to add something else to our game, and we back us to play for 80 minutes.

“We’ll dust ourselves down and we’ll go again. We’re confident. It’s a sort of underdog story this year. We take it game by game and they just get bigger and bigger and we’ll see where it takes us.”

Opposition captain Angus Runciman added: “We always seem to go two tries down, then try to fight our way back again. We showed great character to fight back.

“It was always going to be tough and we felt as though we were probably due one against Selkirk for beating us late in the game the last time we played them, but sadly we let them do that again.

“It was disappointing, to be honest, but it is what it is.

“The game was well within our grasp but through a multitude of things we didn’t come out on the right side of it.”

Hawick captain Shawn Muir has told of his disappointment at seeing his side edged out by a single point away to Watsonians.

​The Greens got within a whisker of making amends for a 40-31 defeat at home to the Edinburgh outfit at the end of September, leading 24-21 at half-time and remaining 32-26 in front with full-time approaching, only to fall short at the death, going down 33-32.

Muir, making his 250th appearance for his home-town club, was happy enough to take away two points, though, as that sees them move four points clear of the top flight’s relegation zone.

Touching down for head coach Graham Hogg’s Borderers at the capital’s Myreside Stadium were right-winger Matt Reid at the double, openside flanker Marcus Brogan and inside-centre Lee Armstrong, with full-back Kirk Ford kicking three conversions and two penalties.

Their hosts’ tries were scored by Zander Walls, captain Neil Irvine-Hess, Ronan Kerr, Cal Davies and Lomond MacPherson, with Dom Coetzer converting four of them.

“It was a tough game through at Myreside and we’re obviously disappointed with the full-time result,” said Muir afterwards.

“We just came up short but the boys put in a massive shift out there, and to come away with two points from there is nothing to grumble at. It could be huge in the context of our season.

“It’s unfortunate we couldn’t get the result on the day, but we’ll take it on the chin and move forward.”

​Kelso remain within a point of making it out of the premiership’s relegation zone after matching fourth-from-bottom Edinburgh Academical’s bonus-point win at the weekend.

Accies notched up their fifth win of the current rugby season away to basement side Musselburgh, by 31-17, taking their tally of points to 27 from 14 fixtures, but third-from-bottom Kelso are hanging onto their coat-tails after beating Marr at home by 26-12.

That victory for co-head coaches Bruce McNeil and Nikki Walker’s hosts at Poynder Park, their fourth of the campaign, not only makes amends for a 42-19 defeat in the reverse fixture at the end of September but also puts six points between them and second-from-bottom Marr, though the Troon team have a game in hand.

Kelso’s try-scorers were No 8 McNeil, full-back Archie Barbour, fly-half Liam Herdman and inside-centre Frankie Robson, with right-winger and co-captain Dwain Patterson adding three conversions.

Blair Jardine scored two tries for their visitors from South Ayrshire, both converted by Colin Sturgeon.

Herdman was pleased to see his side claim their first win since one hosting Musselburgh back on Saturday, December 7, saying afterwards: “We never really stopped over Christmas. We know how important this sceond half of the season is going to be, so we’ve been putting the work in off the field, just looking to build up momentum.

“We really know how important it is to bring that buzz as a unit.

“We knew what was coming, we knew what we are capable of and we came out and executed that today.”