Boroughmuir 12-18 Melrose: Melrose edge out Boroughmuir

By GARY HEATLY
Published on 17/02/2013 02:01

Melrose edged out Boroughmuir in a scrappy match that was certainly not short of incident.

After Melrose’s Andrew Skeen had hit the post with an early penalty attempt, Muir’s kicker Ally Warnock made no mistake with one of his own.

A few minutes later he then added a second and the home side were 6-0 to the good before Skeen reduced the deficit to 6-3 as the 20-minute mark approached.

In the second quarter the game opened up a bit, but was littered with handling mistakes. Two more Warnock penalties put the home side 12-3 to the good before Joe Helps kicked one for Melrose.

The home side started the second half well, but the game moving to uncontested scrums – due to Melrose injuries – and a yellow card for Muir’s Jackson Achilles saw the game turn.

The Borderers grabbed tries through Allan Dodds and Bruce Dick and with ten minutes to play they led 18-12 and the game was set for an exciting ending.

Warnock then missed his first penalty of the day before ‘Rose skipper Graeme Dodds was yellow carded late on. Muir piled pressure on the tryline, but could not get over and the visitors just held on.