Currie 31

Melrose 32

Eilidh Walker

at Malleny Park

MELROSE narrowly secured a bonus-point victory in a ten-try thriller against Currie at Malleny Park on Saturday.

In a fast-paced encounter, Currie built-up an early lead through tries from captain Robbie Nelson and Edinburgh scrum-half Charlie Shiel within the first ten minutes of the game, with Gregor Hunter adding both conversions.

Melrose replied with a flurry of tries from fly-half Struan Hutchison, Jason Baggott and Murdo McAndrew.

Having intercepted the ball deep into his own half Baggott ran in his try and then added a conversion, however Melrose’s 14-17 lead was to be short-lived.

Currie second-row Thomas Gordon added their third try just two minutes later, and before the half was out Hunter sent Joe Reynolds over for their bonus-point try, taking the half-time score to 26-17.

The pace of play slowed in the second-half as both sides tired but the tension created in the first-half continued as the score remained close.

Just four minutes into the second-half hooker Russell Anderson crossed for try number four for Melrose and despite Baggott missing the conversion, it kept Melrose within striking distance.

There followed a long period of over 20 minutes without a score due to stoppages for injuries and infringements from both sides but the drama of the day was not over.

With ten minutes left of the game, French referee Julian Castanede, who refereed the same fixture last year, penalised Currie for not releasing.

Baggott kicked the penalty, taking Melrose within one point of Currie at 26-25.

The large Currie crowd and travelling Melrose support were on tenterhook -, five minutes later Melrose replacement scrum-half Bruce Colvine darted over the line for try number five. Baggott slotted the conversion to pull ahead, 26-32.

Despite Currie’s Reynolds adding a further try at the death, they failed to convert it and a stunned crowd realised that Melrose had secured the victory, 31-32.

Melrose Head Coach Rob Chrystie said: “The longer the game went on, the more belief we had.

"The first-half was very difficult for our midfield because they’ve never played together before and unfortunately you just can’t replicate playing games in training.

“We defended much better in the second-half and grew in confidence. Currie are a very good side and they asked a lot of questions of us.

"We need to dust ourselves down, we’ve got a few boys off with long term injuries so we need to buckle in and get through as many games as we can.”

Melrose will welcome sixth-place Boroughmuir at The Greenyards on Saturday.

Melrose: F Thomson, G Wood, P Anderson, J Baggott, M Mvelase-Julyan, S Hutchison, Murdo McAndrew, G Shiels, R Anderson, C Young, J Head, I Moody, S Lawson, G Runciman, Rory Darge Reps: C Crookshank, R McLeod, T Brown, B Colvine, A Jardine