​Ten-try win in Aberdeen secures rugby’s Scottish National League Division 2 title for Peebles

​That victory concludes what they hope will be their last Scottish National League Division 2 campaign for the foreseeable future and, with 77 points from 18 fixtures, puts them out of reach of second-placed Falkirk and third-placed Lasswade, both still with two games left to play.

The Borderers’ ten tries up north were scored by David Collins and Neil Hogarth at the treble, Ross Brown at the double, Jordan Charters and James Dow, with Donald Anderson converting five and captain Jack Harrison two and Anderson also kicking a penalty.

Securing the third-tier title for the fourth time, and first since 2013, sees the Pees back in tier two for the first time since their relegation, along with Kelso, in 2016.

Head coach Graeme Paterson is delighted to have taken the Gytes side back up in his first season in charge, telling us: “We knew it wasn’t going to be easy.

“You’ve got to set yourselves targets but the likes of Falkirk and Lasswade were always going to be challenging for the title and that’s how it turned out.

“It was pretty close. We always had teams on our tails chasing us down so we had to keep putting pressure on ourselves and keep winning.

“I was delighted to have helped get the guys over the line in my first season as head coach at Peebles, and the hard work starts now for next season.

“We’ve got to go up there and we’ll be looking to cement our place in that league.

“It’s fantastic. To get the club back to the second level is great.”

The Pees’ promotion brings with it four extra derbies against Jed-Forest and Gala, on top of whatever next season’s Border League campaign brings, and that’s a prospect Paterson is relishing, saying: “Playing against Gala and Jed will be fantastic, and Biggar as well for us.

“Derbies are good for the club, they’re good for the players and they save travelling the length and breadth of the country every weekend, although we do have a trip up to Inverness to play Highland in there as well.”

A taste of what’s to come is on offer this Friday as Peebles are away to Jed, with kick-off at 7.30pm, for their penultimate Border League match still awaiting their first win four rounds in.

“To play Jed and Selkirk to finish off the season will be great and it’ll give us a test at that level and set the bar for where we need to be next season,” said Paterson.

“Going forward to next season, it’ll help the players get an idea of the benchmark for the standards they’ll need to reach every week.

“It’s not just about how they perform in one-off games. It’s about getting that consistency in performances as that’s what we’ll be looking for next season, so these last couple of games will be great.

“Another of the targets we set for ourselves was getting a couple of wins in the Border League, and we didn’t quite get there against Melrose or Gala with a draw and a three-point loss, but we’ll hopefully pick up something from these two games so we can say that’s been a success for us as well.”