Melrose step up Tennent’s National League Division 1 title bid with 63-15 derby-day demolition of Gala

That result at home at the Greenyards, combined with table-toppers Kelso’s 22-21 win at now-third-placed Ayr, lifts head coach Bert Grigg’s side up to second place, with 45 points from 11 games, just three off pole position.

Fourth-placed Gala’s title challenge, on the other hand, looks to be in tatters at the halfway point of the season as they now trail Kelso by a dozen points, though, like their two Borders rivals, they’ve got 44 points left to play for, plus any further bonus points they can secure.

Touching down for the hosts, 21-8 up at half-time, were Gregor Lindsay, Thomas Brown, Mitch Richardson, Elliot Ruthven, James O’Neill, Donald Crawford, Bruce Colvine and Douglas Crawford twice, all nine of their tries being converted by captain David Colvine.

Gala’s tries were scored by Kyle Scott and Keith Young, with Craig Dods adding a penalty and Harris Rutherford a conversion.

Melrose are at home to eighth-placed Stirling County this coming Saturday and Gala are on the road to Edinburgh to take on third-from-bottom Watsonians, both those matches kicking off at 3pm.

The two sides enjoyed mixed fortunes in the reverse fixtures on the opening day of the season back at the start of September, Melrose losing 20-7 at Stirling but their Galashiels rivals beating Watsonians 32-10 at home.

David Colvine was delighted to see his side get one over on Gala once again and keep up pressure on Kelso, telling Borders Rugby TV afterwards: “Of course I’m happy. It’s always a pleasure to get a result against Gala.

“I think we were due a performance like that. It was a massive day here at the club and we just wanted to put on a really good effort and I think that’s what we did.

“It’s been known at Melrose in the past to have lulls in the second half and roll over and show our belly and let teams ease back into games, but the message was clear today that we were going to give it 100% right through the second half and keep our foot down, and the scoreline reflects that.”

His opposite number Lachlan Johnston conceded that the better side had won, saying: “It’s a difficult one to take, especially here.

“No one likes getting beat 63-15, especially by their arch enemies, but they were the better team on the day. They were faster and stronger and beat us to every breakdown.

“You’d back everyone in our squad to play in the positions they get picked in so it’s a tough one to take because you can think about it from every angle and it’s just a case of we could have done this, we could have done that, but at the end of the day, we weren’t good enough.

“We just have to lick our wounds a wee bit and get on with it and go to Watsonians away on Saturday and try to bounce back and put in a good performance there.

“The young lads today will be hurting just as much as I am and the older boys, but you learn from these kinds of game and they make you a better player going forward. The young boys will bounce back and they’ll have plenty of good days here as well, I’d imagine, and this is one we just need to put under the carpet and sweep away.”