Melrose 28 - 19 Boroughmuir: Melrose hold off rapid ’Muir fightback

MELROSE played 25 minutes of championship rugby at The Greenyards, according to coach Craig Chalmers, but it took a try by replacement Alun Walker deep into injury time to maintain the title-holders’ ambitions for three-in-a-row wins before a break for the British and Irish Cup.

SCORERS:

Melrose – Tries: Runciman, Ovens, Thomson, Walker. Cons: Skeen (4). B

oroughmuir – Tries: Visser, Swanson, Henderson. Cons: Leonard (2).

Chalmers shouted from the touchline for Andrew Skeen to kick a penalty with time running out, but the stand-off twice elected to kick for the corner and Walker completed good work by hooker Wayne Mitchell for the vital try.

“There was some debate on whether to kick or not,” said Glasgow Warrior Fraser Thomson, scorer of one of his club’s four tries. Melrose went for the bonus point, and after referee Peter Allan said the ball had been held up, the try was given on the intervention of the touch judge. There were no penalty kicks at goal at all in the match.

“We played our best of the season for 25 minutes and then we went to sleep,” said Chalmers. “They came back from 0-21 down to 19-21 before Skeen took control of the game.”

Boroughmuir certainly had their chances and coach Fergus Pringle said that they could have won the game. “We were just not clinical enough at times,” he said.

It looked comfortable for Melrose as Grant Runciman, Ross Ovens and Thomson, together with Skeen’s kicking, put Melrose in control after 55 minutes before they were hit with a barrage of tries from Sep Visser, Jamie Swanson and Alex Henderson, Harry Leonard converting two, in the space of ten minutes, and the visitors were back in it.

However, Melrose held their nerve and the final whistle was met with sighs of relief at the end of an absorbing game..

Melrose: F Thomson; L Mallin, B Dick, J Helps, G White; A Skeen, B Colvine; N Little, R Ferguson, G Holborn, R Owens, R Miller, J Dalziel, G Runciman, A Nagle. Replacements: W Mitchell, C Arthur, S Johnston, A Walker, S Chalmers.

Boroughmuir: R Buchan; D Hoyland, M Clapperton, M Hare, S Visser; H Leonard, A Watt; R Hislop, G Turner, J Latta, G Scott, A Davidson, A McLeod, A Henderson, J Swanson. Replacements: D Miller, K Coertze, N Rodger, R Guedroudj, R Weir.

Referee: P Allan.