Melrose 47 - 20 Peebles: Melrose land much-needed win but Peebles no pushover

WITH both sides playing to find improved form ahead of the national league matches, which re-start at the end of the week, Melrose and Peebles did their confidence no harm in a game at The Greenyards that produced no fewer than ten tries.

Melrose, after an unusual run of three successive defeats, notched up seven tries on a cold afternoon, but Peebles also clawed their way out of the doldrums to restore their hopes for the rest of the season.

Melrose won comfortably in this combined Regional Cup and Border League clash (with nothing at stake except pride) despite a series of handling errors and mistimed passes and were rewarded with battling performances, particularly from Ian Robertson in the line-out and Callum Wilde on the wing, promoted from the 2nd XV.

“That was a win that we needed to restore confidence in the side,” said skipper Graeme Dodds. “However, we still need to cut out the basic mistakes as we will be under a lot of pressure with Gala and Currie among others on our tails. For us, it is all about the league now and every game will be massive for us. We have to keep winning.”

Peebles, who will play in Premiership C, believe the players have now turned the corner and lifted their ambitions and hopes for the rest of the season.

“There was a spell in the second part of the first-half that we pressed Melrose and maybe it could have been different if decisions had not gone against us,” said the club’s rugby director Graeme Paterson. “We are not moving left or right, we are moving forward.”

He added: “It was an excellent performance, which was lacking in the last few games and something what we are looking for. The guys stood up well and we are ready for the next round of matches. We gave 100 per cent and we could not ask for more. The young boys did well and Greg Raeburn [No 10] is only 18 years of age and a great prospect.”

Peebles never gave up the fight, scoring two tries in the final seven minutes, despite Melrose racing into a 19-3 lead after only 19 minutes.

Allan Dodds stormed in for a double and Chris Hardie scored a third, and a huge score seemed inevitable, but it was only with the wind advantage that Melrose found their best rhythm with scores after the break from veteran Cammie Murray, who had to leave the field with an injured shoulder, Bruce Colvine, Graeme Dodds and Scott McCormick. Andrew Skeen kicked six conversions.

Tawhiri Walsh scored in the first-half for Peebles, Martin Clyde and Kenny Clyde touching down in the second, with Raeburn kicking one penalty and a conversion.

Melrose know Dundee HSFP will be a much tougher prospect when the league resumes this weekend, even if their match with Aberdeen Grammar on Saturday was their first competitive game for nine weeks, while Peebles will need to find the missing consistency.