Tennent's National League Division 1 basement boys Boroughmuir shown no mercy by rampant Melrose

Elliot Ruthven with the ball for Melrose against Boroughmuir on Saturday (Photo: Bill McBurnie)

A 52-7 home win over Boroughmuir on Saturday keeps Melrose in touch with the top end of Tennent’s National League Division 1 and a Borders derby this coming weekend looks likely to determine whether they or Gala end up as the region’s top dogs in the table.

That win puts eight points’ distance between the fourth-placed Greenyards side and fifth-placed Kelso, having played one game fewer than their Borders rivals.

Melrose are now on 55 points from 16 games, with Kelso on 47 from 17.

This Saturday’s derby at Netherdale in Galashiels, kicking off at 3pm, could either see the hosts, on 58 points from 14 games, make up ground on table-toppers Heriot’s Blues and second-placed Biggar or get leapfrogged by their guests.

Gavin Wood scoring for Melrose against Boroughmuir (Photo: Bill McBurnie)

Melrose’s try-scorers against basement side Boroughmuir were Will Owen twice, Lewis Mallin, Gary McWilliam, James Brown, Gavin Wood, Jack Dobie and Craig Fairbairn, with Zander Ramage converting five and Wood one.

Home head coach Bert Grigg was impressed by that free-scoring display, telling Borders Rugby TV afterwards: “I’m really pleased with how the boys played today.

“We made a lot of changes due to unavailability, and the boys that came in stepped up and performed well.

“We maybe lost a bit of cohesion in that first half due to the amount of changes that we’d had to make, especially around the lineout. We had a few mistakes in there, which wasn’t ideal, but the pack made up for that.

Craig Fairbairn, supported by Bruce Colvine, on the charge for Melrose versus Boroughmuir (Photo: Bill McBurnie)

“In the second half, things started to click. We had the wind behind us and things like that. The boys played some really good rugby and got the result in the end, which was good to see, and now we’ll just keep building for the rest of the season.”

Kelso host Boroughmuir this Saturday, also at 3pm.

Their run-in after that comprises trips to Dundee on Saturday, March 5; Melrose on Saturday, April 2; and Stirling Wolves on Saturday, April 16, plus a visit from Watsonians on Saturday, March 26.

Melrose’s other games are at home to Watsonians on Friday, February 25, and Stirling Wolves on March 5 and away to Dundee on March 12 and Ayr on March 26.

Gala’s other matches are at home and away to Biggar on February 25 and April 2 respectively, at home to Highland on March 26 and Heriot’s Blues on April 16, away and home to Cartha Queen’s Park on March 5 and 12 and away to Dundee on Saturday, April 23.