Gala 16 - 17 Melrose: Visitors edge tense Borders derby

There was a palpable air of anticipation and expectation around the old ground ahead of this local derby and it was replaced at full time by an air of utter disbelief as Gala let slip a 16-10 lead in the dying minutes of the match to record only their second defeat of the season.

More in desperation than hope Melrose took a quick tap penalty on their own 22-metre line and ran the ball with James King and Jamie Murray combining to put Allan Dodds in the clear. The winger still had to pin his ears back to beat the cover defence. Andrew Skeen’s conversion crept inside the right upright and Melrose were celebrating the slenderest of victories.

It was a 75-metre try worthy of winning this match, moreover Melrose did it the hard way, playing with just 14 men for 20 minutes with Ross Miller and Scott McCormick both spending time in the bin.

It was agony for the watching crowd so spare a thought for Gala coach George Graham, who got more vocal as the match wore on but was pretty much lost for words at the final whistle. Not so his Melrose counterpart.

“I’ve never lost here as a player or as a coach but I’ll admit I was a little worried at half time,” said a relieved Craig Chalmers. “The win was the important thing today and while the performance wasn’t there we were still good enough to win.

“To come here today and to win like that was very, very satisfying. I’ve been on the wrong end of that late score against Heriot’s in the cup final so it was nice to be on the right side of it for a change.”

With so much at stake both sides were showing their nerves at the start with a plethora of mistakes. The number of spilled passes was well into double figures although players can be forgiven for taking their eye off the ball as some of the hits that went in would register on the Richter scale. Spare a thought for former Scotland cap Cammy Murray, who once marked Jonah Lomu. The poor man ran into Gala No.8 Euan Dods at full pelt and wouldn’t have stopped any quicker had he hit the Netherdale stand.

As the score suggests there was little to choose between these two teams. Melrose bossed the lineouts but Gala has a small edge in the scrums and looked a little hungrier around the breakdown, at least in the first 40. Both sides were guilty of kicking away too much ball and even with experts like Lee Millar and Scott Wight at the helm there was enough attacking talent on the wide outside to justify keeping the ball in hand a little more often.

The match swung first one way and then the other as each side enjoyed their moment on the front foot. At the end of the first half Gala set up camp in the corner and turned the screw. They had three scrums, two penalties, one lineout and countless forward pick and drives. Miller was shown a yellow card as the referee’s patience finally ran out and still the visitors’ defence held firm. They won a turnover and then a penalty which they kicked to touch to signal the end of the half. At the time it looked like a turning point, especially given what was about to follow.

Melrose made light of their one-man disadvantage and scored a try within minutes of the restart. Gala failed to secure the kick-off and before they knew what was happening the home side were defending a five-metre scrum. The ball was shipped to the left and King, on for Cammy Murray in the centre, managed to flip the ball out of contact to Wight who’d made the wraparound.

The conversion by Wight gave Melrose a handy 7-3 lead after Gala had opened the scoring in the first half with a Lee Millar penalty. The two fly-halves traded kicks once more but just as Melrose looked to be tightening their grip on the game the old stager Opeta Palepoi popped up and made himself an honorary Braw Lad if he hasn’t already done enough to deserve the title. The big bruiser of a lock shed several years and enjoyed a great gallop up the left flank after a good break from scrum-half George Graham got Gala on the charge.

At the resulting ruck his opposite number Scott McCormick was yellow carded for preventing release and from the ensuing line-out Palepoi barged over the line for the try that many on the sidelines thought would be the match-winner.

The momentum was firmly with the home side and the partisan 2,000-strong crowd must have thought that the rugby gods were smiling on them when Millar’s conversion went over via the right post.

Gala now had a 16-10 advantage with kust a quarter of the match to go. It proved five minutes too long for the Maroons. Melrose finally shed their shackles and gave the ball some width as they went in search of the winner.

With eight minutes remaining the visitors even eschewed a kick at goal and instead they kicked to touch and lost the ball shortly afterwards.

It looked like they had blown their chance but Allan Dodds and Andrew Skeen had other ideas.