Wins for Gala and Kelso in rugby’s Tennent’s National League Division 1 but Melrose fall short

Gala thumped Dundee 41-17 and Kelso got the better of Biggar 31-13, with Melrose falling just short at Ayr, going down 35-31.

The Galashiels side’s third bonus-point win on the trot, yielding a 100% haul of 15 points from three games, gets their latest promotion push off to the best possible start, and second-placed Kelso are only a point behind them.

Gala host Glasgow High Kelvinside this coming Saturday and Kelso are on the road to Edinburgh’s Stewart’s Melville, both those games being 3pm kick-offs

Melrose sit in seventh spot with seven points from their opening three games ahead of a visit from Aberdeen Grammar this weekend, also at 3pm.

Gala’s try-scorers in Dundee were John Turnbull and Jack Easson both at the double, Angus Dun, Marius Tamosaitis, with Harris Rutherford adding four conversions and a penalty.

Crossing the line for Kelso in South Lanarkshire were Bruce McNeil, Charlie Marshall, Keith McNeil and Liam Herdman, with Dwain Patterson adding four sets of extras and a penalty.

On target for Melrose were James O’Neil, Struan Hutchison, Will Ferrie and Luke Townsend, with Hutchison converting four and kicking a penalty.

Gala head coach Stuart Johnson was glad to see his side maintain their momentum on the road, telling Borders Rugby TV: “It was a good result for us in Dundee with a bonus-point win by 41-17. It wasn’t as easy as that scoreline sounds, though.

“In the second half, we started getting the upper hand up front, especially with our maul starting working, and we got some real dominance and the scoreboard just started ticking over from that point onwards for a 41-17 win, which is a great result and another bonus point, so we can’t complain.”

Kelso No 13 Patterson was also delighted about his team keeping up their winning streak, saying: “Really it was an awesome game from the boys.

“We had to dig really deep in that first half, but we got off to a good start and came out of the box sharp, as we’ve been asking for these past few weeks, and then it turned tough, as it always does at Hartree Mill, but the boys stuck in, clawed away in defence and only gave away seven points during Biggar’s purple patch.

“When we came out for the second half, it wasn’t the best, but we only let in two penalty kicks and then we really kicked on from there. Everyone glued together for an awesome bonus-point win.”

Melrose head coach Bert Grigg pinned some of the blame for his side’s misfortunes on a 30th-minute red card for Canadian O’Neil and two yellows for Callum Crookshank and Gary McWilliam, saying: “It was a tough day at Millbrae.

“On the 30-minute mark, James O’Neil was red-carded for alleged shoulder contact with the head of an Ayr player in a breakdown, so we had to play the next 50 minutes without one of our best players.

“There were a couple of yellow cards in there for us as well which meant we played probably 20 minutes with 13 men, so it was a tough day, but I’m proud of how the boys performed.”