LATEST BORDERS RUGBY NEWS

Jan 3rd
Melrose destroyed Jed-Forest 64-12 at The Greenyards in their last of four Border League games in Pool A and they must now sit it out and wait for Selkirk to play their three remaining games before knowing whether or not they will compete in this year's Border League Final at Langholm. Selkirk beat them earlier in the season and victories over Berwick, Gala and Jed will see them edge past Melrose to top the table.

Melrose chalked up 10 tries including four from Jordan Macey and three by Callum Anderson, with James Lew, Alec Jessop and Richard Higgins also bagging five-pointers. Scott Wight landed seven conversions, while Jed's two tries came from David Gobby and Lewis Young, with Ewan Scott scoring a conversion.It was Jed's fifth straight defeat and one of their heaviest beatings in their history.

Berwick gave Gala a real scare at Scremerston in their Border League Pool A match by coming back from 32-7 down to gain two bonus points with three late tries from Colin Young, Gareth Hill and Aaron Hall. In the end the big fightback wasn't quite enough as they went down 32-28 but it was a very pleasing display ahead of their big Scottish Cup clash next week at home to Perthshire.

Colin Young put Berwick in front in the first half (converted by Matthew Hackett) after an early Craig Robertson try for Gala, but two further tries from Fraser Thomson and Graeme Speirs, plus a Dean Keddie penalty, gave the visitors an 18-7 advantage at the break.

Gala wrapped up a try bonus point after the interval with two further tries from Thomson and Speirs, both converted by Keddie, before the grand finale from Berwick. Dick Paterson, a long serving member of the Gala club, came on to make his first ever appearance for the Maroons with five minutes to go to celebrate his 40th birthday, while Gareth Brown became the fifth member of the team to captain a Gala side this season. It was Gala's first win in eight games.

You can see highlights of the game and post match interviews with Colin Young (Berwick) and Gala coach Richie Gray in this week's edition of Borders Rugby Roundup on Borders Rugby Television.

Dec 29th
In the hastily re-arranged Skelly Cup match against Jed-Forest - which was postponed due to a frozen pitch on Saturday - Hawick took the game 27-15 at Riverside Park. They scored three tries in the process from Rory Hutton, Hue Scammell and Steven Anderson, with Craig Neish bagging a couple of penalties and two conversions. Ally Weir also kicked a conversion. Jed managed two tries - one from Paul Thomson and one a penalty try - with a Donald Grieve penalty and conversion completing their total. With Hawick ahead 13-12 at the break it was a very competitive match, with the Greens pulling away towards the end to get themselves their first competitive victory away from home this season and their second win on the trot. They now face Kelso at Mansfield Park in the Border League on Saturday, while Jed-Forest are away at Melrose in the same competition looking to get first win since November 8th and end a losing streak which now stretches to four matches.

Dec 27th
This year's Border League fixture between Gala and Melrose had the added spice of a trophy for the winner. The Waverley Cup, put up by Sykes of Gala, went to Melrose by 22-18 and three tries to two. It was a game which only just survived the weather - the other two local games at Kelso and Jed-Forest were both called off - and while Gala took a slender 6-3 lead into the break, with two Bruce Dick penalties to one from Scott Wight, it wasn't until the second half that things started to warm up. James Lew showed blistering pace to bag a brace of tries while Ross Miller went over for another for Melrose. Gala crossed the line twice courtesy of Fraser Thomson and Willie Cox but the result was a fair one. Melrose have now won two of their three matches but crucially they did get beaten at home to Selkirk, and if the Souters don't slip up against Gala, Berwick and Jed-Forest then they should be favourites to make it through to the Border League Final to defend their trophy. For Melrose it was good to get back to winning ways. You can see highlights of the game on this week's Borders Rugby Roundup on Borders Rugby TV.

Dec 20th
Hawick gave themselves a much-needed lifeline at home to champions Boroughmuir with a win by 20-15 in front of the biggest crowd of the season. The Greens opened their doors as a Christmas gesture as well as a plea to all their fans to come down and support their local team in their hour of need. Even if the crowd had not have been given free admission they would still have come down, and they were rewarded with a victory - only their third of the season - to put them on 20 points along with Glasgow Hawks. Five Craig Neish penalties and a try from Bruce McNeil was enough to see them through but they'll need to start winning away from home as well when the league starts again next month.

Melrose were beaten for the third time running and despite a fightback they went down by a point to Edinburgh Accies who now have a 10 point lead over 9th placed Stirling County, who lost heavily at leaders Ayr. Glasgow Hawks didn't play but it now looks like a three-way battle to avoid relegation between Hawks, Hawick and Stirling. Scott Wight scored 21 points with a try, four penalties and two conversions for Melrose with James Lew getting a try, but the 26-27 scoreline spoiled coach Craig Chalmers' Christmas, and afterwards he said that he hoped the result would also spoil his players' Christmas. "We lost these last three games by ourselves. The teams who beat us were no better than us. It was all down to us," he said.  Selkirk's game at Myreside against Watsonians was postponed.

In Premier 2 for the second week running we had no Borders wins. Kelso v Stew-Mel was a casualty of the weather, but at The Gytes Peebles were trying to defend their long-running 16 month home record against league leaders Dundee HSFP. On the hour they were 19-9 up and their opponents were down to 13 men through yellow cards and were on the ropes. A breakaway try against the run of play got Dundee back into it and they went on to win the match, robbing Peebles of a bonus point right at the end when Neil Warnock fumbled to let the visitors in. It was a big blow to Peebles but they played the better rugby for most of the match and scored tries from Neil Hogarth and David Paton as well as three penalties from Dan Boughtwood. They still have an outside chance of promotion but will need Stew-Mel to slip up in the run-in.

Jed-Forest lost 18-10 at Haddington so failed to pick up any points once again. They scored a try through Gary Elder, with Seb Trotter converting and adding a penalty. Gala managed a four-try bonus point at Aberdeen Grammar but lost 37-27. Andy McLean, Graeme Speirs, Craig Robertson and Craig Hogg all crossed the whitewash with Bruce Dick kicking a penalty and two conversions.

Langholm were not involved in the cup and Berwick had a bye so Hawick YM were the only National League side locally to play. They beat Hawick Harlequins 21-6 in Round 3 of the National Cup with two tries from Glen Douglas and Hamish Neish. Gregor Welsh scored three penalties and a conversion with Neil Renwick scoring two penalties for the Quins.

In the delayed Round 2 game, St Boswells knocked out Edinburgh Northern 21-3, while in the first round of the Plate, Duns beat Gala YM 37-0 and Earlston won at Walkerburn 32-10. Liberton withdrew from their match against Hawick Linden sending the local team through to the next round.

Dec 19th
Michael McVie, the Selkirk scrum half, has been added to the Club International squad of 30 which will be training at Myreside soon ahead of their match atr Rouen in France

Dec 18th
BBC Alba is pulling the plug on broadcasting club games after this weekend, and that means that Selkirk's three matches pencilled in for early in 2009 will not now be covered. A spokesperson from BBC Alba said that they hope to return in the autumn and concentrate more on promoting their coverage. Last weekend's match between Boroughmuir and Melrose in front of the cameras opted for a football interview with Craig Brown during the interval and at the end rather than feature any rugby-themed content, something which did not go down well with many.

Dec 16th
Selkirk's Gavin Craig, Fraser Harkness and Lee Jones have been called up for the Club International Squad along with five players from Melrose - David Whiteford, Scott Wight, Scott McCormick, John Dalziel and Wayne Mitchell. In all eight Borderers are in the 30 man line-up with only Hawick from the 12 Premier 1 teams not represented. The others are Ayr (5), Boroughmuir (2), Currie (5), Edinburgh Accies (1), Glasgow Hawks (2), Heriot's (4), Stirling (1), watsonians (1) and West Of Scotland (1). Harkness, Jones, McVie, Aglen and Craig have also been invited to train by Rob Moffat, the Edinburgh backs coach, with the Edinburgh squad, which can only be good for the development of these talented players.

Dec 15th
Hawick are hoping for a bumper crowd on Saturday for their vital Premier 1 clash against Boroughmuir. All Hawick people will be let in free in an attempt to bolster as much support as possible. No one in the Borders wants to see any Border side relegated so support for the Greens in this game is crucial. The match kicks off at 3pm.

Dec 14th
Melrose went down to Boroughmuir in front of the BBC Alba cameras at Meggetland by 26-11, with only one try (from Jonathan Bradburn) and a couple of penalties from Scott Wight and Jordan Macey in the credit column. The result means that after this weekend Melrose have slipped from fourth to fifth place in Premier 1.

Dec 13th
Selkirk emphatically retained their unbeaten home record at Philiphaugh against a battling Hawick side, coming away with a 28-3 win and scoring a bonus point with four tries, two either half of the break. Craig Neish put the Greens ahead with an early penalty but Gavin Craig found a gap in the Hawick defence to go over for his sixth try of the season converted by Mike McVie.  The Souters stretched their lead to 14-3 when Lee Jones scored a try in the corner, once again taking advantage of weak Hawick defensive play and McVie bagged the extras before Neish missed a simple penalty which would have put his team right back in it. After the break Fraser Harkness went on one of his trademark runs, then chipped and chased and won the race to the line with McVie scoring again. At 21-3 there was no way back for Hawick. They found the Selkirk defence solid as a rock and it is hard to believe this is the team which leaked nine tries a few weeks ago in one game at Currie. To put the icing on the cake Selkirk scored a fourth try to give them the bonus and put them ahead of Heriot's (who lost at Ayr) into second place in the table on 48 points.

In Premier 2 it was bad news for the Borders with four losses. Peebles looked to have Musselburgh under control and lead for the whole match until 79 minutes on the clock. In a high scoring game they managed four tries for a bonus but still went down 37-35. Dan Boughtwood got a personal tally of 20 points with a try, three penalties and three conversions to increase his lead as top points scorer in the region, with Duncan MacDonald (2) and David Anderson crossing the line for the other tries. Two bonus points away from home gives Peebles a top three position in the table but they could have come away with the maximum five. Next week they hope to defend their unbeaten home record at The Gytes which stretches back to November 2007, but they'll have to beat table toppers Dundee HSFP who will be out to spoil the party.

Gala could manage only a losing bonus point as they let the game slip away after two Bruce Dick penalties put them in control against Haddington at Netherdale. The visitors edged their way back in it with a couple of tries (one converted) to take the four points and send Gala down to eighth in the table. Before today's games one solitary point separated six teams, showing how tight it is in that league. Gala's last win was at Musselburgh back on November 1st and with four straight losses they will have to turn things round with their young team next week when they face Aberdeen Grammar at home.

Jed-Forest had a very bad day. From the moment the bus was late everything seemed to go wrong at Inverleith against second placed Stewart's Melville. Despite two late tries from Scott Laidlaw - he's now Jed's joint top try scorer on five for the season - and a Seb Trotter conversion, Stew-Mel were too good and romped away with a five try haul to put them clear second in the table. It ended 33-12.

Kelso were looking at their fourth win on the bounce when they led 13-8 into injury time thanks to a try, two penalties and a conversion from Kevin Utterson, who went over the 100 point mark today. But a late late GHA try out wide made it 13-13 with a Jim Noonan conversion getting the visitors the four points.

In National League 1 both Berwick and Langholm had to sit it out again with their games being postponed, and next week they'll get no rugby either as Langholm are banned from the Cup competition following last year's indiscretion and Berwick have a bye - maybe the two teams should bring their own clash at Scremerston forward to next week to try and get some rugby played for the first time this month!

Hawick YM took to the field though and got their first try bonus points of the season in 14 attempts. They beat Kilmarnock 32-7 at Mansfield Haugh to retain their third place in the table and are up to 54 points. Glynn Desport scored two and Lee Douglas and Scott McLeod got one apiece with Gregor Welsh scoring two penalties and three conversions.

In East League 1 there were wins for all Borders teams. Hawick Harlequins warmed up for their cup game against Hawick YM next week with a 13-5 win at Broughton, Duns beat Dalkeith 27-0 and Hawick Linden made it 10 out of 10 at home to North Berwick, winning the match 33-12.  In Division 2 Gala YM defeated Moray House 31-12 on the road while St Boswells smashed Walkerburn 77-0 away from home.

Dec 6th
Only three Borders teams got to play on Saturday, with the main match between Melrose and Selkirk at The Greenyards getting the green light following some tremendous work by the ground staff. There were still a lot of frosty patches on the turf but all parties agreed to the game going ahead and it produced a very entertaining game, with five tries scored - three of them to Selkirk, who took the match 23-20. Despite being down to 13 men at one point in the first half when Neil Darling then Sean Crombie were yellow carded Selkirk managed to withstand tremendous Melrose pressure and went in at the interval with a 13-6 cushion thanks to Michael McVie's two penalties and a conversion of Lee Jones' excellent 35th minute try with a sprint down the left wing to two Scott Wight penalties. 

Melrose were looking for their eighth straight league win, but went further behind just after the break when a Simon Cross break down the centre of the park created space. He threw a long pass out to the left where Ross Armstrong was. It was a tricky ball to take but Armstrong gathered it up and dived over the line. But Callum Anderson gave the home side their first try on 49 minutes following an excellent cross-kick from Wight. Anderson scored right in the corner with Wight kicking the conversion. When Richard Higgins was sin-binned on the hour Selkirk kicked to touch from the penalty, won the resulting line-out and powered their way over the line with Rob Taylor coming up with the ball. Back came Melrose and Jordan Macey went on one of his trademark runs, fed fellow Australian James Lew, and Lew ran in by the posts. With Wight producing a faultless kicking performance all afternoon it set up an interesting final few minutes with just three points in it, but Selkirk held on for a memorable win which not only saw them break through the 40 points barrier for the season, but as this game doubled as a Border League match, it meant that Selkirk are well on their way to making the Border League Final again.

With Stirling County winning at Heriot's it was good news for Selkirk as they closed the gap on the Edinburgh side, but bad news for Hawick as County moved seven points clear of them. Next week's game between Selkirk and Hawick should prove to be very interesting with Hawick desperate for points and Selkirk, still smarting from a 6 try massacre at Mansfield Park earlier in the season, trying to retain their unbeaten home record into 2009.

In the only other local game played today, St Boswells beat Moray House 59-0 in East League Division 2.

Dec 1st
At a special meeting at Mansfield Park tonight it was decided that Hawick coach Jim Hay will no longer be in charge of the team who are at the bottom of the table in Premier 1 at the moment. A statement from the club said: "The management committee has decided to relieve Jim Hay of his position as head coach of the club. The decision was made following a full debate about the club's position in Premier 1 of the Scottish Hydro Electric League. There will be no further comment from Hawick Rugby Football Club." Stephen Cranston and Derek Armstrong, the current assistant coaches, are likely to continue until the end of the season.
Talking to the press for the first time since he was gagged for 90 days as a punishment for "verbally abusing the referee" at the recent match against Watsonians Jim said that he would not be returning to rugby but had no hard feelings towards his beloved Hawick. Many think that this is a knee-jerk reaction. When a man like Jim Hay has been involved in rugby for most of his life it will be impossible for him to walk away permanently from the sport that has given so much to him and indeed a sport which he has given so much to.

Nov 29th
The frost and fog did its best to ruin this weekend's fixtures but most of the Borders sides managed to take to the field. In Premier 1 Melrose got their seventh victory in the league on the bounce with a win on the road at Burnbrae 20-15 against West Of Scotland. David Whiteford and Lindsey Gibson scored Mel's two tries with Scott Wight converting both and adding two penalties to take his total to over 100 points this season.

Meanwhile Selkirk managed to protect their 15 month unbeaten record at home once again with a 22-15 victory at Philiphaugh against Glasgow Hawks to secure a double over the Glaswegians. They scored three tries to 0 in the fog in a game which was not exactly a classic. Hawks ran Selkirk close with Iain Noble and Robbie Hair scoring four penalties and a drop goal between them to keep them in touch right to the end. At 15-15 with two minutes left on the clock Alex Dunbar, back from injury, crossed for a vital match-winning try, going in under the posts, but the Souters still had to defend for the final few minutes of injury time as if their lives depended on it to keep Hawks from scoring. They managed it with a mighty effort but it gave the Philiphaugh crowd yet another nail-biting finish. Earlier Scott Hendrie scored a try, converted by Mike McVie, who also bagged a penalty to go into the interval 10-9 up - Noble scoring three good penalties with the boot. It sets up an intriguing local derby next Saturday at The Greenyards between Melrose and Selkirk. Melrose will start as favourites thanks to their current form but it's a local derby and anything can happen, and probably will!

Hawick were expected to go down at league leaders Ayr and they were overwhelmed 29-0 to go bottom of the table, thanks to Stirling County winning at home comfortably against Edinburgh Accies. Their cause wasn't helped by indiscipline. Colin Murray was red carded for strongly disputing an Ayr try while three yellow cards were handed out to Hawick players.

Premier 2 for the first time this season has all four Borders sides in the top half of the table. With Jed-Forest's game at Biggar postponed due to a frozen pitch at Hartreemill, Stewart's Melville took advantage and slipped past them into second with a 27-7 at home to Gala, Gala's points coming from a Craig Parker try, which he converted. Peebles are 4th after another away win and a bonus point too. David and Donald Anderson scored tries along with David Paton and Steven Groat with Dan Boughtwood kicking two conversions and a penalty. Kelso are up to 6th after a win against GHA at Poynder Park by 19 pts to 8. They scored one try but it was a cracker. Mee Kaa Eel Hartley touched down for his 6th try of the season, with Kevin Utterson kicking the rest of the points.

Langholm's match against RHC was postponed, but despite having played only nine games this season they are still up there in fourth place in National League Division 1. Berwick lost at Edinburgh University 24-11 and still cannot find that elusive win away from home. Mark Laidlaw scored their only try with Matthew McCreath kicking two penalties. In Division 2 Hawick YM won for the 12th time this season yet are still in third place due to the fact that they have found it hard to get bonus points. They have only one to their name this season so far compared with table toppers Whitecraigs who have eight and Linlithgow who have three but they still are the most successful Borders core side at the moment with 49 points amassed this season with just one defeat. On Saturday they beat Newton Stewart 12-0 at Mansfield Haugh with a try each from Dean McCracken and Lee Armstrong and a McCracken conversion.

All East League Division 1 games involving Borders sides were victims of the weather but in Division 2 Earlston beat Moray House 5-3 to stay top of the league on 41 points. St Boswells are in second following their 22-0 win at home to Inverleith and now have 33 points.

Nov 28th
In the Bell Lawrie National Schools Under 18 Cup Round 5 draw Galashiels Academy have been drawn at home to Stewart's Melville College. They are the only Borders side left in the competition. The game will be played before December 17th. Meanwhile in the Plate Round 2 draw, Kelso Academy are away to either Dunbar or Wellington. In the U18 Bowl Round 3 draw Berwickshire High School are at home to Craigmount H.S. and Jedburgh Grammar will travel to Wallace High School.

In Round 4 of the Bell Lawrie Under 15 Cup Galashiels Academy are at home to either Banchory Academy or Kinross High School, while Selkirk High School have a tough away draw at George Watson's College. In the Plate Langholm Academy will host the winners of the Dingwall/Highlanders game and Kelso High will face Strathallan on the road. The Bowl sees Jedburgh High School also playing away at either Ellon Academy or Nicolson Institute.

Nov 26th
Former Scotland player Jake Borthwick has died at the age of 96. He was part of the Triple Crown-winning team in 1938. He played prop forward and won two caps for Scotland, playing out of Stewart's FP. He worked in Galashiels at Peel Hospital between 1950 and 1976 and was awarded the MBE for medical services. He had been living in Galashiels for a number of years and his funeral will take place at Old Parish and St Paul's Church on Tuesday 2nd December at 1pm.

Nov 26th
The SRU have made the draw for both Round 3 and Round 4 of the Scottish Cup as well as the Plate competition Round 1 ties. In Round 3 there's another local derby for Hawick Harlequins as they visit Hawick YM, following their success of dumping Hawick Linden out of the Cup. Berwick have a bye to Round 4 but if St Boswells beat Edinburgh Northern in their (as yet) unplayed match, they will face Linlithgow. The ties will be played on December 20th.

In the Plate competition, scheduled for December 20th also, Dunbar will face the losers of that St Boswells match (and will therefore be played at a later date), Duns will face Gala YM, Walkerburn are at home to Earlston and Hawick Linden travel to Liberton.

Round 4 will see the big clubs enter the competition on January 10th. Whoever wins the Hawick local derby will have a home tie against Stewart's Melville. If St Boswells win their game against Edinburgh Northern and then beat Linlithgow they will have a home tie against Boroughmuir - a great incentive for the club.  All Premier clubs will travel and here's the Border ties...

Berwick v Perthshire
Newton Stewart or Helesburgh v Melrose
St Boswells or Ed. Northern or Linlithgow v Boroughmuir
Huntly or Banff or Grangemouth v Kelso
Hawick YM
or Hawick Harlequins v Stewart's Melville
Glasgow Accies or Strathendrick v Selkirk
Marr or Whitecraigs v Peebles
Lismore or Lasswade v Jed-Forest
Greenock Wanderers or Isle of Arran or Isle of Mull v Gala
Madras or Gordonians v Hawick

Nov 24th
Former Hawick player and Scottish international Scott MacLeod has had his case relating to a failed drug test thrown out after research found that the high level of testosterone in his sample was due to a large amount of alcohol which he took the night before the test to celebrate becoming a father for the first time. While this is fantastic news for Scott he is understandably frustrated that his career had been put on hold by the immediate suspension by his club Scarlets and the Scottish Rugby Union. He said: "I am glad this ordeal is over. I am frustrated that my sample was not tested for alcohol at an earlier stage given the severity of the charge I was facing." Scottish Rugby is now making representations to the IRB in relation to how the IRB's anti-doping regulations deal with the complicated and uncertain nature of such cases. It has also warned players in Scotland to take heed of the very real danger of acute alcohol ingestion causing a temporary elevation of their T/E level.

Nov 23rd 
Melrose Rugby Club and the founder of the world famous Melrose 7s, Ned Haig, have been inducted into the prestigious IRB Hall of Fame. Melrose was one of five inductees into the Hall Of Fame; a tremendous achievement for the club.

Nov 22nd 
Not a good weekend for most of the Borders sides but there were a few notable exceptions. Melrose made it six wins out of six in Premier 1 with a battling 26-21 win against table-toppers Ayr and move themselves up to fourth in the league. They crossed for three tries from Jordan Macey, William Wallace and Callum Anderson. One of them converted by Scott Wight, who also kicked three penalties.  Hawick meanwhile drop to second bottom with their biggest defeat of the season at home to Heriot's. After taking the lead with a Ryan Hogg try converted by Calum MacRae (making his debut for Hawick), it was one-way traffic with Heriot's scoring 36 unanswered points after the break to run out victors 43-7.  Selkirk had a disastrous outing at Malleny Park with Currie thrashing them 62-20 with a nine try demolition of the Souters. The teams turned round 24-15 at the break but it all went wrong in the second half as Currie built up a massive score in the second half. Selkirk scored three tries from Lee Jones, Fraser Harkness and Scott Hendrie, one of them converted by Ross Armstrong, who also kicked a penalty.

In Premier 2 the best result from a local team was a draw at The Gytes where Peebles held on to their unbeaten record at home to share the spoils with Stewart's Melville 16-16. Neil Clark scored Peebles' only try which was converted by Dan Boughtwood who was on target with three penalties. Jed-Forest lost 24-7 to table toppers Dundee HSFP who continued their habit of beating Borders teams to do the double over Jed and inflict their first home defeat on them at Riverside Park this season. Greg Walker scored a try converted by Chris Richards to give Jed the perfect start but Dundee dominated the rest of the half and when John Henderson was yellow carded the visitors took advantage. They scored two converted tries and a penalty to lead 17-7 at the break. Jed dominated with wind advantage for the first half hour of the second period but somehow couldn't get the try they deserved. High School wrapped things up ten minutes from time with a further converted try to take the game. Jed once again saw points going begging with three missed penalties which didn't help their cause but they still remain second in the league. Scrum Half Ross Goodfellow, playing his 200th game for Jed, said afterwards that he felt Dundee were home and dry for the title and all the others were chasing that one remaining place.  On Friday night Gala lost 19-6 at home to Biggar - their second consecutive home defeat - and despite the fact that Biggar's final two tries should not have been allowed Gala really didn't deserve to win this one.

In the National League the Borders sides faired much better, winning all three of their encounters. Langholm, who have still only completed nine of their 12 games so far have still managed to get to the top three of the table. They won at home against Dalziel 16-10 with tries from Craig Hislop and Colin Jardine and a couple of Niall Cubbon penalties. Local rivals Berwick did Langholm a big favour in turning over second placed Dumfries 12-8 at Scremerston to get back to winning ways with four penalties from Matthew McCreath doing the damage and keeping Berwick seventh. In National League 2 Hawick YM won at Forrester FP 19-16 to keep in third place.

The Scottish Cup Round 2 local derby was won by Hawick Harlequins who travelled the short distance to take on their neighbours Hawick Linden. It ended 20-5, with Linden being defeated in a competitive match for the first time this season. Duns lost 13-10 at home to Portobello in the other match involving a local team in the competition.

Nov 19th
Hawick have taken the unusual step of banning their own coach, Jim Hay, from the touchline and from talking to the press after an incident at the game against Watsonians when Jim questioned a last-minute try which gave 'Sonians a share of the points. Flanker Nick McTaggart has been suspended for four weeks following a citing by Edinburgh Accies after one of their players suffered an ear injury during their clash at Mansfield Park a few weeks ago.

Nov 18th
Three Borders players have been named in the 32-man squad for the upcoming Scotland U20 Six Nations campaign. Kelso prop Grant Shiells, Peebles hooker Ryan McConnell and Gala Full Back Fraser Thomson will all be looking to make the final cut later this year.

Rory Hutton and Graham Hogg of Hawick have been selected for the Scotland 7s squad in the first two legs of the IRB World 7s Series in Dubai and South Africa. You can see an interview with both players on the Hawick Rugby TV page, plus a chat with ex Gala flanker Roddy Grant who will captain the squad following the broken leg of previous skipper Scott Forrest (formerly of Hawick) which happened while playing in a match for Ayr.

Nov 16th
Selkirk managed a try bonus in their second consecutive away win at Stirling County this afternoon in a tight game which gives them three wins out of their last three matches and more importantly that crucial five points which sees them climb to third in the table on 35 points. It ended 30-29 in favour of the men from Philiphaugh.

Gavin Craig, playing at centre for the first time this season, was the star of the show with a hat trick of tries taking him up to five for the season, while Fraser Harkness crossed the line also. Mike Rutherford, returning from injury, was goal kicker for the afternoon, playing at fly half and landed two conversions and two penalties.

The only other game involving local teams this weekend saw Melrose beat Berwick 57-0 at Scremerston in the Border League. Player/Coach John Dalziel stated his intent that Melrose are out to win the trophy away from Selkirk this season, pouring scorn on any suggestions that the club would not be making this league a priority, which was music to the ears of the Border League committee and the sponsors BSPC who have put a lot of money into promoting the Border League.

Nov 7th
It was probably the best day for Borders Rugby this season with all but one of the core sides winning their games. In Premier 1 at The Greenyards, Melrose made it five out of five with a 28-22 win against Heriot's, who were looking for a fifth straight win themselves. Melrose managed three tries from Wayne Mitchell, Jordan Macey (his 6th of the season) and James Lew. Melrose are now up to fourth in the table on points difference from Selkirk who have also hit the 30 points total for the season after only their second away win of the season at Raeburn Place. They also scored three tries against Edinburgh Accies to win 24-16. They were always in control and their three tries came from Rory Aglen, Gavin Craig and the best of the match from Fraser Harkness. Hawick managed a draw at home to Watsonians 13-13 to give them two valuable points, although they will be disappointed that they lost the game as they were winning late into the match. Graham Hogg and John Coutts crossed for tries for the Greens.

There were three wins out of four for Borders clubs in Premier 2. Jed-Forest scored five tries from Scott Laidlaw, Jamie McCraw, Ross Goodfellow, Paul Pringle (on his first start for nearly two years for the club following injury) and Gary Holborn for a well deserved bonus point against Musselburgh, winning 29-10, to stay in second place. Leaders Dundee HSFP were the only side to defeat a Borders core team this weekend when they beat Gala at Netherdale 25-16, so they stay top. Gala's only try was from David Marshall with Gary Parker kicking the rest of their points.

Kelso won on the road at Haddington 22-11 thanks largely to the boot of captain Kevin Utterson with five penalties and a conversion of Me Kaa Eel Hartley's try. This match doubled as a Border League fixture so Kelso top that pool with a win and a draw, but more importantly they lift themselves up into ninth place. Peebles won away from home for the first time this season, and it was a convincing victory too, against Hamilton by 33-16, scoring four tries (from Donald Anderson, David Paton, James Oakes and Duncan MacDonald) to take the game with a bonus point.

In National League 1 Langholm's game against Howe Of Fife was postponed due to a waterlogged pitch - their third postponed game of the season so far - but Berwick remain undefeated at home with a 7-7 draw against Murrayfield Wanderers at Scremerston. Lee Douglas scored Berwick's try which was converted by Matthew Hackett. Hawick YM bagged their tenth win in 11 games on the road at Caithness to stay third in Division 2. They won 27-11 with tries from Lee Armstrong, Ross Gibson and Jamie Tinlin. Dean McCracken was in fine form, kicking all three conversions and adding two penalties. Also in that league bottom club Newton Stewart beat top of the table Whitecraigs in the shock of the day, so YM have closed the gap.

In the Scottish Cup First Round Hawick Linden demolished Earlston 63-0 with 11 tries, including five from the Bouglas Brothers. Stephen got a hat-trick and Greg managed two. Darrel Gray and Craig Black both ran in a brace of tries. Hawick Harlequins won 27-10 at Edinburgh BATS to progress to Round 2, Duns won at Dunbar 21-9 to complete a double over them having beaten them in the league two weeks ago, but Gala YM went down to Portobello at home 16-3 to complete a disappointing weekend for Gala's top two sides. Walkerburn went out of the cup losing away at North Berwick 54-9 while St Boswells' game against RDVC was postponed.

Nov 1st
Selkirk could well be featured on BBC ALBA in the near future. Three home matches have been pencilled in for live transmissions, including their games at Philphaugh against West Of Scotland (which would be switched to Sunday 1st February), Stirling County (March 7th) and Edinburgh Accies (March 21st). Talks between the BBC channel (which broadcasts on Sky) and the SRU are still ongoing and as soon as we can confirm that we will. At this stage we don't know when Melrose and Hawick matches will be transmitted.

Nov 1st
Selkirk just refuse to get beaten at Philiphaugh which has now officially become a fortress! They have now seen off three of the four top teams in the league after adding Boroughmuir to the scalps of Ayr and Watsonians on Saturday with a 6-0 win, thanks to two David Cassidy penalties.  Cassidy was stretchered off the field with a head injury and was sent to hospital with suspected concussion. It is unlikely he will be playing rugby for a few weeks. Melrose continued their winning run with their fourth victory in a row at Watsonians, with three tries from John Dalziel, Jordan Macey (his fifth of the season) and Wayne Mitchell. Scott Wight kicked all three conversions and a penalty. Hawick's away form continues to be poor, this time going down to bottom club Stirling County 34-24 despite crossing for three tries from Ryan Hogg and a brace from Keith Hedley. Ally Weir converted the three tries and added a penalty. Melrose stay 6th, Selkirk are 7th with a game in hand, and Hawick are 10th.

The Premier 2 derby between Kelso and Jed-Forest was won by Kelso. They bounced back from their nilling the week before against Gala to win 20-14 with Stuart Lowrie and Kevin Utterson try scorers. Utterson also scored two conversions and two penalties to boost his points total for the season to 66. Greg Walker bagged himself a try for Jed to take him to four for the season, with Chris Richards kicking three penalties.  Gala won by a point at Musselburgh to buck the trend of losing by a point, which they have done twice this season. Tim Miskelly scored the Maroon's only try with Craig Parker adding a penalty and Dean Keddie scoring a drop goal.  Peebles protected their own long-running 13 month old home record with a narrow win at The Gytes against Aberdeen Grammar 19-16 with Donald Sangster touching down for a try with the reliable Dan Boughtwood claiming four penalties and a conversion to go up to 96 for the season.

In National League 1 Berwick lost 21-9 at East Kilbride to continue a quirky streak of results which reads LWLWLWLWL. On this form they should win next week against Murrayfield at home! Langholm got back to winning ways on the road at Edinburgh University, taking the game 24-14, while in Division 2 Hawick YM beat Hillfoots 24-0 to retain their third place in the league.

In East League 1, Hawick Linden remain unbeaten with a comfortable 37-7 home win against Broughton and remain top. Hawick Harlequins beat Duns 17-12 in the local derby, while in the 2nd Division, Earlston still top the table with a 21-3 win against Inverleith. St Boswells destroyed Leith 49-14 and Walkerburn went down at Moray House 48-7. Gala YM's game against Edinburgh Northern was postponed.

Oct 28th
Greg McLeod of Hawick, son of President Donald, is leaving the club. He has been frustrated with the lack of game time at The Greens and, with Jed-Forest on the look-out for front row players, he will be signing for Jed this week. 

Listed as a hooker on the Hawick website, Greg is more at home as a prop, and Jed coach Calum Brown is delighted to have him available to the club although he told me that it is unlikely he will go straight into the squad for the local derby against Kelso this weekend; he could be unveiled though for the home match against Musselburgh on November 8th. 

The fact that Hawick's President's son will be turning out for another club is bound to raise a few eyebrows and provoke some friendly banter but at the end of the day if a player wants to play Premiership rugby and there are opportunities elsewhere it makes perfect sense.

Oct 25th
Melrose went up to sixth place in Premier 1 by beating Hawick in the local derby at The Greenyards by 21-3 scoring two tries either half of the break by Scott Johnson and newcomer James Lew. Scott Wight was on target with three penalties and a conversion. This was Melrose's third win on the bounce and it moves them above Selkirk in the table, with Selkirk's match at Stirling County being a victim of the weather. Hawick's only score came from a penalty by Ally Weir.

In Premier 2 the local derby at Netherdale was between Gala and Kelso, with the wind and rain playing a big part in the proceedings. Gala played the conditions the better of the two and when they turned round 6-0 up at the break thanks to a couple of Craig Parker penalty goals, their tails were up. They then proceeded to use the wind to their advantage with Dean Keddie putting in some good kicks to the corner, playing the territory game. On 51 minutes Gala's try came with Michael Howes winning a line-out and handing the ball to Malcolm Horsburgh who drove his way over the line for his third try of the season. Parker converted well from the touchline and later added a penalty to seal it for the Maroons who were delighted to nil Kelso. Kelso had never scored less than 19 points in a game this season so they were bitterly disappointed to go home with nothing to show for their efforts.

Jed-Forest took full advantage of leaders Dundee slipping up at Stew-Mel to get back to winning ways at home to GHA. They won 16-11 but it was another tight game, with Chris Richards turning round an 11-10 deficit with two late penalties. He scored another penalty earlier and converted Scott Laidlaw's try. They remain unbeaten at home. Meanwhile Peebles still cannot win away from home. They lost 19-0 at Haddington.

In National League 1, both Berwick and Langholm had their games postponed, but in National League 2 it looks odds-on that Hawick YM would retain their unbeaten record with a straight ninth win after they raced to a 16-0 lead. But with the elements in their favour in the second half league leaders Whitecraigs fought back to score 21 unanswered points to take the victory. YM scored one try from Glyn Desport with Gregor Welsh scoring three penalties and a conversion.

In The East League 1, Hawick Linden are now the only unbeaten team in the Borders after winning 16-5 at home to Portobello to stay top of the division. Duns beat Dunbar on the road 31-12 while Hawick Harlequins beat Dalkeith 20-5.

In the East 2nd Division, Earlston remain top with a victory at home to Leith (27-0), Gala YM scraped home 5-3 at home to RDVC, and Walkerburn went down at home to Inverleith 29-7 with St Boswells' game against Edinburgh Northern postponed.

Oct 24th
Craig Chalmers has been brought into the Scotland U20 set-up as part of his career development by Scottish Rugby. Craig, along with Tom Smith, will be working together as part of the coaching and management team. Melrose coach Craig said: "I'm delighted to get this chance to be involved coaching some of the country's top young talent at national level. Hopefully I can be an asset to help players progress. His actual title is "Continuous Professional Development Coach". Scotland U20 will take part in the 6 Nations Championship in February and March.

Oct 20th
Two Borders club players have been selected for Stephen Gemmell's Scotland 7s squad to take part in Singapore at the Invitational warm-up competition ahead of this year's IRB World 7s Series.  Hawick's Graham Hogg and Rory Hutton will line up alongside former Gala player Roddy Grant and ex Hawick 7s specialist Scott Forrest, who also captains the side for another season. The event will take place over the weekend of 1st and 2nd November. Selkirk's Alex Dunbar was originally selected but an ankle injury has ruled him out. You can read more about this story on the Selkirk Rugby website clickable from our own website.

Oct 20th
Former Hawick player Scott Macleod has been suspended by Scotland following an investigation into a urine sample which had a higher than allowed level of testosterone in it. Scott is adamant that he has done nothing wrong and has insisted on a second sample test to be done. In the meantime, while the investigation is going on, he will not be allowed to play any rugby. MacLeod was cleared following a test eight months ago after he admitted unwittingly taking a banned substance to treat his asthma condition.

Oct 18th
Melrose and Hawick both scored wins in Premier 1 today, with Melrose chalking up six tries, most of them in the first half, to gain a bonus point win over Stirling, but coach Craig Chalmers was disappointed that his team "stopped playing" in the second half and felt a score of 60 or 70 points was achievable. It ended 44-23 with David Whiteford, Callum Anderson, Jordan Macey, James King, Wayne Mitchell and Joe Helps all getting five-pointers, with Scott Wight boosting his season's total to 51 with a 14 point haul with the boot.

Hawick's win at home to Glasgow Hawks was a vital one for the Greens and coach Jim Hay was delighted that his side scored a try-bonus point with four from David Lowrie, Steven Anderson, Colin Murray and Graham Hogg to go with a penalty from Ally Weir. They won 23-16 which leap-frogs them into 10th place in the table above Hawks. Next week Hawick go to the Greenyards for a derby against Melrose.

Selkirk visited West Of Scotland, who had smashed Stirling County at Bridgehaugh the previous week. In the end Selkirk's 17 points courtesy of two tries from Ben Meyer and Alex Dunbar, a penalty and two conversions from David Cassidy, wasn't enough as the Souters went down 29-17 and dropped a place in the table to sixth, They travel next week to Stirling County in a game which they will be targeting as a must-win to help their campaign of staying in Premier 1 for at least another season.

In Premier 2 the local match between Peebles (unbeaten in the league at home since September 2007) and Jed-Forest (unbeaten in six matches) went to Peebles with five Dan Boughtwood penalties doing the damage for the home side. Jed scored the only try of the game through Robert Ferguson, with his third of the season, but Jed's lack of a quality goal-kicker at the moment didn't help their cause. Chris Laidlaw slotted a penalty early in the match but it ended 15-8, with Jed going home with a bonus point. Peebles travel to Haddington next Saturday looking for their first away win of the season, while Jed will re-group in readiness for their home match against GHA, who beat Gala 33-23. Gala managed two tries from Bruce Dick and Euan Dods, with Craig Parker converting both of them as well as scoring two penalties. Dick dropped a goal. Gala will play Kelso at Netherdale next Saturday, and Kelso got their first home win of the season with a 19-13 victory over Biggar. Michael Tait crossed for his seventh try of the season, with Gary Mulroy also crossing the whitewash. Kevin Utterson bagged three penalties to take him past 50 points for the season.

Moving into the National League Division 1, and after Langholm's impressive win at home to Berwick last week, they couldn't repeat the form for their away game played at Inverleith Park against Murrayfield Wanderers. They went down 39-10, with all of the Langholm points scored by Niall Cubbon with a try, penalty and conversion. Next week they welcome Dalziel to Milntown.

Better luck for Berwick. They won with a bonus point at home to Preston Lodge by 26-6. The four tries were scored by Grant Younger, Gareth Hill, Lee Douglas and James Patterson with Matthew Hackett kicking three of the conversions.

Hawick YM march on with an eighth straight win, but found it difficult once again to score any tries. They edged out Greenock Wanderers 9-6 with two Barry Hill penalties and one from the returning Dean McCracken to secure the four points. Next week it will be the big crunch game at home to table-toppers Whitecraigs who have lost this season already but have 7 bonus points whereas YM have none.

In the East League Division 1 all three Borders teams won. Duns defeated Broughton 20-12 at home, while Hawick Harlequins won 22-20 at Penicuik and Hawick Linden completed their seventh win out of seven with a convincing 35-16 win on the road at Meggetland keeping them clear at the top of the table.

Mixed fortunes for local sides in Division 2 of the East League. Gala YM won at Edinburgh BATS 12-5 while Earlston go top of the table with an away win over previous leaders Edinburgh Northern 18-16. But Walkerburn were beaten heavily at Leith 57-3 and St Boswells went down at RDVC 22-7.

Oct 15th
An exclusive interview with Ian Watson can be found on our "Other Clubs" TV channel on our website. Ian is very passionate about this year's event, which has been sponsored by BSPC. He talks about his hopes for the future of the event and predicts that the National Cup may eventually die for a number of reasons, including financial ones. As he explains, it actually costs Borders clubs money to take part in the National Cup with potentially high fuel bills for away matches. With more money coming into the Borders clubs from the BSPC than from anywhere else he hopes that the profile of the oldest league in the world will be raised from this season onwards.

Oct 11th
Selkirk did it again! They survived their toughest challenge so far by taking the scalp of unbeaten table toppers Ayr, and in doing so, protected their unbeaten home record which stretches back to September 1st 2007. They won 16-15 scoring the only try of the game through Lee Jones. David Cassidy kicked three penalties and a conversion. Their next home game is against Boroughmuir on the 14th month anniversary of their last defeat but next week they travel to Burnbrae to face fellow promotion winners from last season, West Of Scotland.

Melrose collected their second away win of the season at Glasgow Hawks, taking the game 25-21, with three tries from Jordan Macey (2) and Scott McCormick. Scott Wight kicked the other ten points with two penalties and two conversions. Hawick managed two tries this week but still failed to get an elusive away win. Steven Anderson and John Coutts were the try scorers, with Rory Hutton kicking four penalties and a conversion in their 41-24 loss at Currie. Selkirk are fifth in the table on 22 points, but have the same amount as the third and fourth placed teams. Melrose climb to 9th with Hawick 11th.

In Premier 2 Gala won the local derby against Peebles 19-13 in a hard-fought match at Netherdale. With several injury problems during the game the Maroons had to swap positions drastically but pulled the win out of the bag, scoring two tries from Gareth Brown and Craig Parker. Parker kicked two penalties and a drop goal for a personal tally of 14 for the match, while Craig Hunter scored Peebles' only try - Dan Boughtwood converting it and landing two penalties.

Jed-Forest go marching on, and in convincing style too at Riverside Park in their new gold jerseys. They managed six tries this afternoon - five coming in the second half - to defeat Hamilton 37-11. Robert Hogg, David Grieve, Marti Hastie, Gary Elder, Seb Trotter and Robert Ferguson all got on the score sheet while Chris Laidlaw bagged two conversions and a penalty. Jed are second on 27 points behind Dundee HSFP who beat Kelso 42-26, but once again Kelso managed a try scoring bonus point, with a four try haul from Mee Kaa Eel Hartley, Sean Common, Garret Walsh and Stuart Lowrie. Kevin Utterson scored three conversions.

Gala are up to fourth in the table, Peebles are seventh and Kelso in ninth.

In National League 1 the big Border derby between Langholm and Berwick ended with a convincing win by Langholm 29-6. Langholm took the game to their visitors from the start and ran in three tries by half time. Berwick never looked like breaking down the Langholm defence and had to settle for two penalties from Matthew Hackett as their sum for the day. Langholm's tries came from Keith Davidson, David Irvine, Alisdair Cavers and Steven Nicol, with his fifth of the season. Neil Cubbon kicked a penalty and three conversions to raise his total after six games to 43 points.

Hawick YM's unbeaten record continued with a 9-0 home win against Glasgow Accies. Barry Hill scored three penalties. and interestingly enough, despite the fact that YM have only scored seven tries in their seven games so far, their defensive record is one of the best in the whole of the Premier and National League. Only 40 points have been scored against them.

In the East League Division 1, another success story. Hawick Linden are also unbeaten with six wins out of six. They beat Duns 44-7 and top the table. Hawick Harlequins beat North Berwick 21-11 at home to go fifth. Duns are in sixth place.

East League Division 2 saw all local sides win their games - the most remarkable being Walkerburn's win away at Edinburgh Northern. Up until today Walkerburn were on minus 4 points with no wins and a deduction of 4 points after they couldn't put a team out. They went away to the unbeaten league leaders and beat them 15-5! St Boswells are second after their home win against Edinburgh BATS (41-5), Earlston are in third following their victory over RDVC 36-0, and Gala YM won again at home to Liberton 48-8 and are now fifth.

Oct 4th
Hawick beat Watsonians on Friday night in an extraordinary battle, but it wasn't fought on the rugby pitch at Mansfield Park - it was fought out in the club room at the special Dinner held to raise funds for the Bill McLaren Hawick RFC Flood appeal. The legendary commentator put up for auction his commentary notes for the Scottish Cup Final from 1996 which had a guide price of £300. Leading up to the auction, which featured the Welsh legend Gerald Davies and British Lion Finlay Calder, a consortium of Hawick businessmen decided to make a collective bid to keep the historic item in the town - and they managed it ... at a price! The item went for over £3000. What a result! They'll be dancing in the streets of Hawick after that one!

Oct 4th
Not the best week for the Borders as only two of the seven in the Premiership league managed wins. All three Premier 1 sides went down including Melrose who threw away a 12-0 lead at home to Currie to lose 12-20. Melrose's tries were scored by Calum Anderson with Scott Wight kicking a conversion.

Selkirk couldn't stage one of their famous comebacks at Goldenacre but played some decent rugby in an entertaining fixture which saw the Nails run out 31-21 winners. The Souters managed three tries from captain Neil Darling, Fraser Harkness and Michael McVie, all converted by David Cassidy, while Hawick lost at home to Edinburgh Accies 11-16 after leading at half time. It was a match coach Jim Hay described as "terrible", but they were the only one of the three Border teams to get a point out of the afternoon - their fourth losing bonus point of the season. Keith Hedley scored Hawick's only try with Craig Neish adding two penalties. Selkirk are fourth, Melrose 9th and Hawick 10th.

In Premier 2 Peebles were always in control at The Gytes against local rivals Biggar. This was their first competitive match since the 2000-01 season and despite the horrendous conditions the Peebles pack produced an awesome display and it was them who won it for their side 25-13 with two tries from Number 8 David Paton and one from prop Adam Clark. Dan Boughtwood kicked two penalties and two conversions to take his tally for the season to 59 points, the most scored by any Borderer this season.

Jed-Forest came back for the second week running to take the game at Aberdeen. They were trailing 8-0 at the break but fought back with tries from Robert Hogg and Greg Walker. Chris Laidlaw converted one of the tries and kicked two penalties including the match winner right at the end of the game to win 18-16. That was their fifth win on the trot and they stay second in the league.

Gala lost 21-20 at Hamilton, with Andy McLean and Scott Chapman scoring the Maroons' two tries and Bruce Dick kicking two penalties and two conversions. At Poynder Park the remarkable change of fortune for Musselburgh continued. After heavy defeats at the start of the season they turned that form round last week to hammer GHA and this week they raced to a 24-0 lead against Kelso before a comeback from the home side. But it was too late. Despite a four try bonus and a losing bonus, Kelso lost 24-30. Their tries came from Michael Tait, Mee Kaa Eel Hartley, Nathan Trotter and Darren Gillespie with two Kevin Utterson conversions completing their total. Gala are fifth, Peebles sixth and Kelso in ninth.

Turning to the National League, and despite Langholm's match at Cambuslang being a victim of the weather, they still retain their fifth position, with Berwick climbing to seventh following a comfortable 37-8 victory over Annan at Scremerston. Their extra bonus point came from a four try haul by Lee Douglas (2), David Gilchrist and Matthew Hackett, who had a marvellous day with the boot also, kicking all four conversions and three penalties to give him 22 points - not bad for a day's work! He climbs to second in the Borders "Most Points" rankings list, only the second player to go over 50 points this season so far. It all sets up nicely the local derby next week at Milntown between Langholm and Berwick.

More good news in National League 2 as Hawick YM won again - their sixth on the trot - with an 8-3 win at Highland. Half the team are well into their mid-30s while the other half are made up of teenagers, so a fine effort, but the clubs would no doubt love to get that elusive try bonus point which has not come their way yet this season. YM are second, behind unbeaten Whitecraigs, who have scored try bonuses in all but one of their games so far.

In the East League Division 1 Hawick Linden are top of the table after they completed another victory to remain unbeaten. They beat Dalkeith on the road 44-0 while Duns beat Meggetland 17-0 and Hawick Harlequins were soundly beaten at Portobello 33-0.  Division 2 saw St Boswells beat Liberton 26-16 away from home, Earlston win 35-3 at Edinburgh BATS and Walkerburn thankfully were able to fulfil this week's fixture at RDVC, but lost the game 38-5.

Sep 30th
Walkerburn RFC have been docked four points for not fulfilling their fixture last week against Liberton. President of Walkerburn, Malcolm Ormiston, told BordersRugby.net that the first he heard of the docking of points was when we rang him up to find out the reason for the cancellation of the fixture.

The SRU confirmed that it is the Championship Committee (who are elected by the clubs themselves) who make the decisions, but also confirmed that it is up to the clubs to appeal any penalty they may be given.

Malcolm said that as far as he was concerned he gave Liberton ample notice that they could not fulfil the fixture due to a large injury list but would be glad to play them later in the season. The suggestion to play the fixture with nine or ten players on the field was simply not an option, and no one wants to go down the road of a one-sided match which does nothing for the image of the game or the morale of the players.

With Walkerburn's match on Saturday also postponed due to lack of players it is expected that a further four points will be deducted. It does seem harsh that a club, already struggling to survive in their centenary season, should be kicked while they are down, and it is hoped that a solution can be found to this problem so that a more helpful and sympathetic attitude can be adopted in the future for scenarios such as this one.

Sep 27th
In one of the most exciting weekends for Borders Rugby, Selkirk, Jed-Forest and Gala all came from the depths of defeat to stage remarkable comebacks in their home matches.

Selkirk's unbeaten run at home, stretching back to September 1st 2007, looked as if it was going to end as Watsonians swept to a 28-15 lead at half time, scoring four tries in the process. But that incredible spirit within the team staged yet another fightback and they nilled 'Sonians in the second half, scoring 17 points themselves to get a try bonus of their own to snatch the game 32-28, with Scott Tomlinson, Gavin Craig, Sean Crombie and Scott Hendrie all crossing the whitewash, with Ross Armstrong bagging two conversions and a penalty, with Mike McVie scoring a conversion himself.  With 30 minutes to the start of the game Selkirk, who were already missing the influential Fraser Harkness, were dealt a further blow with the late withdrawal of goal-kicking specialist David Cassidy following an accident at work earlier in the day. The result for Selkirk was even more amazing as it followed last week's heavy defeat at Hawick. 

Hawick themselves were hoping to win on the road at Meggetland as they took on champions Boroughmuir but they just fell short, losing 21-17 but collecting yet another bonus point.  Melrose won away for the first time this season at Edinburgh Accies by 20-13.  Selkirk are 5th on 18 points, with Melrose over-taking Hawick to go ninth in the table.

In Premier 2 there was more drama as Jed-Forest came from behind at home to Haddington to stage a comeback which stunned the former leaders to win 29-26 with a bonus try count; while at Netherdale Gala also were well down before getting their first home win of the season against Aberdeen 26-24 in a thrilling finale which saw the visitors pushing a simple penalty wide at the death.

Kelso got their first win of the season, and had to travel to Inverleith to get it. They beat Stewart's-Melville 29-25 to get that particular monkey off their backs, while Peebles - missing key players - went down at Dundee HSFP by 31 points to 15.

Jed are now in 2nd spot with Gala 4th, Peebles 7th and Kelso in ninth.

In National League 1 Langholm hit Preston Lodge hard, scoring 11 tries in their 65-3 home win. Steven Nicol scored the first border hat-trick of the season. Berwick weren't quite so lucky, going down on the road 18-17 at RHC, but Hawick YM, in Division 2, are one of two unbeaten Borders sides, winning 25-12 at home to Linlithgow. YM are second in the league and remarkably have achieved this without any try bonus points.

In the Eastern League Division 1 Hawick Linden protected their own unbeaten record with four out of four wins, this time beating Penicuik 50-8. Hawick Harlequins lost at Dunbar 31-23 while Duns picked up another win against Portonello 22-17.

East League Division 2 saw St Boswells lose their unbeaten record at home to Gala YM, by 30 points to 7, while Earlston disposed of Liberton 21-7. Walkerburn's match against Edinburgh BATs was postponed with Walkerburn failing once again to field a team, something they were penalised 4 points for last week.

Sep 25th
Former Scotland, Border Reivers and Gala hooker Stevie Scott has joined Scottish Rugby as a special skills coach. He'll be working with the Scotland team as well as age group squads and the pro teams in Scotland. As part of his remit he will also be working with National Academy players.

"Following my retirement I wanted to concentrate on passing on my experience," said Stevie. "It was only towards the end of my career that I started to think about the principles of lineout throwing, which is a big part of a hooker's job. The new ELVs are possibly putting a greater focus on the hooker hitting the jumper in the lineout at maximum height and we're working hard on hookers becoming more accurate," he added.

Sep 20th
Hawick produced a stunning display at Mansfield Park to destroy Selkirk's unbeaten run in Premier 1, running in six tries on their way to a comfortable 42-15 victory which gave the Greens their first win of the season. Rory Hutton, Bruce McNeil (2), Neil Renwick, John Coutts and Bruce Campbell crossed for Hawick. Neil Renwick kicked two conversions while Rory Hutton bagged a conversion and a penalty. David Lowrie added the other penalty for Hawick. Selkirk couldn't score a try but the reliable boot of David Cassidy gave them five penalties.

Melrose managed a bonus point at home to Boroughmuir, losing 27-20, and while coach Craig Chalmers acknowledged it was an improvement on their match against Selkirk, it was still not the performance we know Melrose can produce. Callum Anderson and Dougie Dodds scored tries for Melrose, with Scott Wight collecting two conversions and two penalties.

In Premier 2 Jed-Forest produced their best result of the season, winning 34-18 against Stew-Mel who had previously beaten Gala and Peebles. Jed's five-try haul from Robert Hogg (2), Gary Hill, Robert Ferguson and Greg Walker looked great on paper but they still didn't fire on all cylinders, so when they do get it all together, Jed are going to be a real force in this league. Donald Grieve scored two conversions while Chris Richards landed a panalty and conversion. 

Gala got a good win at Haddington, handing the Lothian team their first defeat of the season. It ended 23-18 with Gala's points coming from a try each by Malcolm Horsburgh and David Marshall, with Bruce Dick kicking two conversions and three penalties. Kelso lost at GHA 27-21 but collected a losing bonus point. Kevin Utterson converted all Kelso's three tries from Mee Kaa Eel Hartley, Darren Gillespie and Nathan Trotter. In the other match involving a Borders team, Peebles comfortably took the scalp of bottom team Musselburgh at The Gytes, winning 41-0 with Dan Boughtwood converting three of the seven tries which were scored by Alan Smellie (2), Craig Hunter (2), Adam Moffat, Neil Hogarth and Donald Sangster.

Hats off to Langholm and Berwick who won their matches in NL1. Berwick took the unbeaten record of Dalziel (25-17), scoring three tries from James Patterson, Gareth Hill and Matthew McCreath, with Matthew Hackett kicking two penalties and two conversions. Langholm scored a try bonus in beating East Kilbride 34-17. Their tries were collected by Steven Jardine, Keith Davidson, Bob Lamb and Steve Nicol. Captain Niall Cubbon kicked all four conversions and added a penalty for a personal haul of 11 points from the boot.

In NL2 Hawick YM, against all odds due to sending a weakened team to Kilmarnock, retained their unbeaten record thanks to a 12-5 win, with Barry Hill landing four penalties. YM now join St Boswells and Hawick Linden as the only three unbeaten Borders sides. St Boswells didn't play on Saturday, but Hawick Linden won 38-13 at North Berwick in East League Division 1. Also in that division Duns won away at Dalkeith (21-7) while Hawick Harlequins defeated Broughton at home 35-5.  In East League 2 Earlston beat Gala YM 16-13 on the road while Walkerburn's game at Liberton was postponed.

Sep 13th
Selkirk go marching on with a third consecutive win in the Premiership First Division following their win at home to Melrose by 28 points to 6. In the other game in that division involving a Border team Hawick lost at West Of Scotland 22-12.

In Premier Division 2 there were two local derbies and both were close. Gala lost at home 17-18 to Jed-Forest while Peebles and Kelso shared the spoils at Poynder Park with a 21-21 draw.

In National League 1 Langholm narrowly failed to win at Annan, going down 9-8, while Berwick gained a bonus point at Howe Of Fife, losing 22-17. Hawick YM continued their winning start to the season, beating Stewartry 14-7 and are now in third place.

Eastern League Division 1's local derby saw Hawick Linden get the better of Hawick Harlequins 21-14 while Duns lost 11-15 at home to Penicuik. In Division 2 the two derbies ended with wins for an unbeaten St Boswells at Earlston (19-14) and Gala YM comfortably beat Walkerburn on the road 36-3.

Pro Players submitted to local clubs
In a revised protocol between Premier 1 clubs and the two professional clubs in Scotland, Edinburgh and Glasgow Warriors, it's been agreed that each of the Premier 1 clubs will get six Pro Players attached to their existing squads in a bid to bolster links between the pro and club game. While Chris Paterson and Dan Parks have been assigned to Hawick it is unlikely that they will ever turn out for the Greens due to their commitments, but here is the list of players attached to the Borders clubs:

Selkirk - Sean Crombie (Hooker), Simon Cross (Back Row), Ben Meyer (Scrum Half), Gavin Kerr (Prop), Ross Ford (Hooker), David Blair (Fly Half) and Phil Godman (Stand Off).

Hawick - Matt Dey (Centre), Opeta Palepoi (Lock), Calum MacRae (Utility Back), Chris Paterson (Utility Back), Matt Mustchin (Lock/Flanker) and Dan Parks (Stand Off).

Melrose - Scott Newlands (Flanker), Geoff Cross (Prop), Mark Robertson (Wing), Kelly Brown (Back Row), Kevin Tkachuk (Prop) and Tim Barker (Lock).