Melrose 16
Hawick 10
STUART CAMERON @ The Greenyards
A THIRD consecutive Border League title took Melrose’s total wins in the competition to 20 at the end of a typically physical and feisty local derby at The Greenyards last night.
Lee Armstrong gave Hawick an early three point lead with a penalty, but Melrose bounced back with a try through scrum-half Bruce Colvine from a quick tap penalty, and a Struan Huthchison penalty then extended the home team’s advantage to 8-3 at the break.
A converted Dalton Redpath try swung the pendulum Hawick’s way after the resumption, but it soon headed back towards Melrose with a second Hutchison penalty, before skipper Grant Runciman settled the matter with a try from a driven line-out, scored while Hawick were reduced to 14 men due to Bruce McNeil being in the sin-bin.
“From the Melrose boys’ point of view, I’m just pleased that they managed to get over the line at the end of the year,” said Melrose head coach Rob Chrystie, as he looked back at a campaign which has not quite hit the heights of the recent past. “It has been a really hard season – physical – and the squad have been challenged to the max. But they’ve stuck in and two national semi-finals and then to win the Border League is not bad, to be fair.”
Watch StuMedia‘s coverage of the match here –
StuMedia also attached a camera to referee Steven Turnbull, which gave this unique insight into what it was like out there in the middle as two great Border rivals went toe-to-toe –
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