Home > Video Bulletins > Melrose on fire with 8 tries to start Premiership campaign but Gala and Hawick lose on first day
Melrose hit the ground running in their first Premiership game of the season against Boroughmuir at the Greenyards with eight tries in a 51-24 win. They got off to a flying start with Jason Baggott crossing over for a try with barely three minutes on the clock. The visitors briefly took the lead at the end of the first quarter when Thomas Gracie bundled over converted by Chris Laidlaw, but after that Melrose kept the foot on the gas and led 22-7 at the turn with further tries from Ross McCann and James Head, both converted by George Taylor who also kicked a penalty. Baggott and McCann both doubled their try tally in the second half with Bruce Colvine, Ruairidh Knott and Murdo McAndrew all touching down. Taylor kicked another conversion with Austin Lockington drop-kicking the final conversion on the whistle to see his team go over the 50 points mark. To their credit Boroughmuir rain in three good tries in the second period for a bonus point, with Rab Cairns, Craig Keddie and Douglas Hearn all getting on the score sheet, with Laidlaw adding the extras to Cairns’ try. Watch all tries here.
Elsewhere it looked as if Glasgow Hawks would rack up 50 points at Gala after they hit 38 points in the first hour, but Gala stemmed the tide and showed character in fighting back to end their day 14 points adrift. It was 27-43 at the final whistle with the Maroons grabbing an unlikely 4-try bonus point and nearly collecting a losing bonus too, but it wasn’t the start the club wanted. Hawick had a good first half at Stirling County but lost 28-19 in their opening game of the season. In the other two games in the BT Premiership, Ayr demolished Currie 53-10 at Millbrae while newly-promoted Watsonians shocked champions Heriot’s at Myreside by taking the match 25-18.
In the BT Cup Round 1 there were some cricket scores. Selkirk and Jedforest swept past Howe of Fife 67-20 and Dalziel 78-0 respectively while Peebles beat Preston Lodge 41-40, but St Boswells lost on the road at Highland and Kelso were heavily beaten at Falkirk 64-33 to go out of the competition.
