Melrose 45 - 19 Watsonians: Comfortable victory for Melrose after spirited Watsonians wilt

Word in the town before the match was that after scoring eight tries and nine tries in successive games, Melrose were ready to go for double figures against the team at rock bottom of the premiership table.

Well, there were indeed ten tries scored but three of them went to the visitors who kept popping up again and again when the home side thought they had knocked them over.

When the teams were all square at 19-19 and three tries each just before half-time the panic button might have been pressed, but a late first-half try that secured the bonus point and an old-fashioned rollicking at the interval was enough to see the game closed out.

Even so, it was a master class in inconsistency by Melrose - exactly what coach Craig Chalmers had warned them against with the reminder that Watsonians had won the corresponding fixture last season, making a mockery of league standing and rescuing themselves from relegation in the process.

Melrose blew hot and cold over the entire 80 minutes: in total control of all phases of play one second, in total disarray the next as slack passing, slack tackling, and slow thinking cost them possession and territory.

The saving grace was that, with the curiously mixed first-half performance behind them, Melrose didn't concede a single point in the second and coasted to a comfortable victory, keeping Watsonians at arms-length even as they summoned up sufficient never-say-die spirit to stay right in their faces until the end.

For Melrose it was a fifth win on the trot. For Watsonians it was a third defeat and they stay firmly rooted at the foot of the table and will not join Melrose in the elite top eight when the league splits after next week.

It all started so promisingly for Melrose with seven minutes of non-stop pressure before full-back Fergus Thomson carved a path to the line. Three minutes later the quest for the ten-try haul was evident when skipper Scott Wight chose to kick for the corner rather than take the three points from a penalty under the posts. Tactically, it worked when the lineout was won and lock Hayden Mitchell crashed over but psychologically it backfired because the message it sent was that the game was already won.

Watsonians had different ideas. Winger Matt Henderson, making his debut for the first XV, exploited space on the right to touch down in the corner. If Melrose thought normal service was resumed minutes later when Thomson took the ball in at an angle and fed Callum Anderson for the third home try, they were much mistaken when, at the other end, Henderson immediately repeated his trick by scoring in exactly the same spot.

Melrose were rattled.A penalty 40 metres out that might have been kicked to touch was instead launched towards goal by Wight but drifted wide. Then flanker John Dalziel coughed up the ball going into contact on the Watsonians 22 and Craig Sorbie raced up the left wing, kicking ahead as the tackle came in for Andrew Skeen to scoop it up and dive over the line. Skeen's conversion of his own try brought the scores level.

A return to basics saw the home pack retain the ball and advance a few metres at a time all the way to the line where it was released through five pairs of hands for Anderson to claim the bonus point try right on half time.

Three minutes into the second 40, lock Garry Elder carried into the opposition 22 and Number 8 Graeme Dodds took it on before off-loading to centre Jamie Murray coming in at the angle for the try.

Then another strength-sapping drive by the Melrose pack moved relentlessly towards the line and replacement prop Nick Beavon got the touch down so soothe frayed nerves.

A rapidly tiring Watsonians pursued their own fourth try and an unlikely, and irrelevant, bonus point but Melrose had their measure by this stage. When the ball was turned over on the Melrose 22, Ross Miller went charging up the middle of the pitch and off-loaded to Murray to take it the final 40 metres to the line.

Scorers: Melrose: Tries: Thomson, Anderson 2, Mitchell, Murray 2, Beavon. Cons: Wight 5. Watsonians: Tries: Henderson 2, Skeen. Cons: Skeen 2.

Melrose: F Thomson; C Anderson, J Murray, E Ford, A Blair; S Wight, S McCormick; N Little, G Innes, G Holborn, G Elder, H Mitchell, J Dalziel, G Runciman, G Dodds. Replacements: R Ferguson, N Beavon, R Miller, C Hardie, C Murray.

Watsonians: J Forbes; M Henderson, A Skeen, A Nash, C Sorbie; R Aitken, J Blackwood; S Laird, N Hart, K Coertze, D Seed, D Gorman, S Ursache, A Porter, H Grant. Replacements: C Owenson, D Orr, C Scott, M Ker, T Rainey.

Referee: D Changleng.