Kelso open up gap at top of rugby’s Tennent’s National League Division 1 table with 13th victory of season

The bonus point yielded by the Borderers’ 29-0 win at home at Poynder Park to Edinburgh’s Stewart’s Melville on Saturday has opened up the tiniest of gaps at the top of the table – a single point – though, with 63 points from 14 matches, they still have a game in hand on their South Ayrshire rivals, 17-14 victors at Watsonians at the weekend.

Tries by Keith Melbourne, Greg Ponton, Murray Hastie, Angus Common and Andy Tait, two of them converted by Dwain Patterson to take him past the 150-point mark for the season, saw off the capital side, currently bottom of the table on nine points from 14 fixtures.

Next up for Kelso is a trip to fifth-placed Highland this coming Saturday, with kick-off at 3pm, and they’ll be hoping to pull off a winning double after edging them out 24-21 in the reverse fixture in October.

Stand-off Hastie was delighted to see his side rack up their 13th win of the campaign and second against Stew-Mel, having defeated them 35-12 away in October, telling Borders Rugby TV afterwards: “They were really tough conditions out there, with a strong wind in the first half, and we maybe tried to force things a wee bit.

“To be fair to Stew-Mel, they stuck in well defensively and we came up with a few errors, but when got in their 22, I’d like to think we executed three or four really good scores, and at the turn of the half, we knew we were going to be playing into a strong wind and we defended well.

“To nil any team in any league is a big thing for us and it was really pleasing that we scored neared the end of the game after defending for 25 to 30 minutes.

“To get that win and another bonus point keeps us on the road and we’ve got a tough trip up to Highland next week but we’re very much looking forward to it.

“We know it’s going to be a different game to what we played today, on a quick surface, and we’ll be doing all we can this week to prepare as best we can to head up there and get a result.”

Melrose have also kept themselves in touch with the top end of the table after winning 35-17 away to Aberdeen Grammar to do the double against the second-bottom side, having beaten them 64-11 at home in October.

That result keeps them in third place, now on 54 points from 14 games, nine off pole position, ahead of a visit from seventh-placed Dundee on Saturday, with kick-off at 3pm, and they’ll be looking to double-down against them too, having edged them out 26-25 away in October.

Melrose’s tries on Saturday were scored by David Colvine, Robin Sharp, Bruce Colvine twice and Archie Pilcher, with David Colvine adding five sets of extras.

Touching down for the Aberdonians were Mark Galloway, Ross Cameron and Craig Shepherd, with Sam Knudson converting one.

Melrose’s Donald Crwford said he was happy to have picked up a bonus-point win away, if how with how his side went about getting it.

“Five points on the road – we can’t complain about that, but we all know our performances have got to be better if we’re to have real aspirations of challenging for the league title,” he said. “It’s out of our hands really. All we can do is just keep winning and keep plugging away and trying to pick up five points every week.”