​Six out of seven sides in action as rugby’s Border League returns for first fixtures of 2025

​The top flight’s Hawick and Melrose are at home to Arnold Clark National League Division 1’s Gala and Peebles respectively and Kelso are away to National 1’s Jed-Forest, with all three of those games scheduled to kick off at 7.30pm.

Gala go into that return to action sitting second to Selkirk in the regional league, on eight points from four matches, with third-placed Melrose, fourth-placed Kelso and fifth-placed Peebles all on four from two.

At the bottom end of the table, sixth-placed Hawick have yet to play a single game and basement side Jed have lost all three of their fixtures, leaving both without any points.

Last season’s equivalent fixtures saw Kelso beat Jed-Forest 30-21 at home at Poynder Park in October 2023 in a premiership double-header and Peebles draw 22-all at home to Melrose at the Gytes last March, with a scheduled trip to Gala for the Greens going unplayed as they’d already secured their 51st title.

Three further fixtures are lined up to follow next month, two of them premiership double-headers.

The two matches doing double duty are visits to Kelso for Melrose and to Selkirk for Hawick on Saturday, February 10, both 3pm kick-offs.

A further stand-alone fixture seeing Kelso hitting the road to Peebles is scheduled for Friday, February 21, with kick-off at 7.30pm.