Currie 22 - 26 Melrose: Melrose close in on back-to-back titles after ‘lucky’ win at Currie

Published on Monday 20 February 2012 03:26

With four rounds of games still to play it’s far too early to call back-to-back titles for Melrose, but the Borderers took an important step in the right direction by beating one of their main rivals on Saturday afternoon at Malleny Park.

Bitterly cold conditions took their toll as passes went astray and only in the final quarter did this match really come to life. Both sides tried to play expansive rugby but the breakdown was a mess from start to finish and an early yellow card or two might have improved this game as a spectacle.

Melrose No 8 Graeme Dodds deserves some sort of accolade, if only for having a thick coconut. The big fella did much of the heavy lifting work but when he cracked heads with Currie winger Ross Neill, Dodds’ contribution appeared over. But after lying prostrate for several minutes, he struggled to his feet and carried on to give the scoring pass to Joe Helps for his team’s final all-important try. It wasn’t their most polished performance, as Melrose coach Craig Chalmers conceded afterwards.

“I suppose we were a little bit lucky to win because Currie played well. They have a big set of forwards and when they start to rumble near the try line they are very difficult to stop. I think they knew that this was their last chance to stay in the title race and they played very well. But we were a little unlucky to lose to Dundee so it’s swings and roundabouts.

“We got a couple of favours done for us today which also helped. There is more to play for now, with British and Irish Cup places up for grabs and that is what gives these games real meaning. We weren’t at our best but we battled it out and it was a nice luxury to be able to bring Scott Wight off the bench. He brought some control to the second-half.”

Indeed, this match was all about the fly-halfs, although the Glasgow professional Wight slotted in at full back for much of the second-half. Currie lost Jamie Forbes early on and his replacement, Fraser Strachan, struggled to make an influence. Meanwhile, the veteran Andrew Skeen pulled the strings for Melrose and he had Currie dancing a jig. If it wasn’t panic that ensued when he launched a high kick, it was something very similar and several accurate cross-field kicks should have resulted in more.

Melrose enjoyed a 16-3 lead at the half-time break after a converted try from full back Fraser Thomson was augmented by three Skeen penalties. Currie showed character to bounce back and their forwards bullied their way to the line twice in 15 minutes with the giant Tongan/Kiwi Loma Kivalu the last man up with the ball on both occasions.

The momentum appeared to have changed, with everything going the way of the home side, and it seemed only a matter of time before they scored their third try to put this match to bed. Instead, Thomson made huge inroads up the left flank for the visitors and when the ball was shipped back to the middle, the defence parted like the Red Sea for Dodds to put Helps over for the winning score. Skeen added the conversion and another penalty, all of which rendered Steve Burton’s final touchdown irrelevant.

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