Melrose 52

Currie 22

Atholl Innes at The Greenyards

MELROSE set out their stall on Saturday at The Greenyards with another comprehensive win that spoke volumes for the club’s commitment to the Premiership.

It not only saw Melrose score seven tries, but at the same time, in an all-round performance, they were given a tough test by a resilient Currie surprisingly still looking for its first victory of the season.

The game was also a personal triumph for South African stand-off Jason Baggot, who could not miss as he fired over seven conversions from different parts of the field to add to a penalty.

Baggot admitted that the sunny afternoon boosted his confidence.

“It was a fantastic day for the club and for me too,” he said.

“It was good to get kicks over. It was a fine team performance.”

But coach Robert Chrystie said that the final score did not reflect the game.

“Currie got stuck in and kept the ball for a long period of time, and caused us a few problems as they played in the right areas, but we played well defensively. We gave away a lot of penalties and we will need to look at that.”

Chrystie was delighted that Baggot converted all seven tries.

“Jason has been working hard all season. He is a confident player and has brought a lot to the club.”

Baggot also kicked a penalty for a total of 17 points, but there were spells in the game when Currie threatened against a sound home defence.

While they sit second bottom of the Premiership with one point, just ahead of Hawick, their performance belied that position with sound running and gritty forwards’ play… but Melrose just held the edge with their handling and ability to find the space to score tries.

Currie scored early with a penalty try, which Graeme Clow converted, after Austin Lockington had deliberately knock on and was shown a yellow card by referee Mike Adamson.

Baggot cut the deficit with a penalty before Melrose went ahead when Mark McAndrew nipped over and Baggot converted.

The game ebbed and flowed and Melrose turned round 24-17 ahead following tries from Russell Anderson and Fraser Thomson, Cameron Gray replying for Currie.

In the second half, Iain Moody, Lewis Carmichael, Lockington and Ross McCann scored for Melrose while John Cox went over for Currie and Richard Sneddon added a penalty.

Melrose: F. Thomson; A. Lockington, G. Taylor, R. Taylor, R. McCann; J. Baggot, M. McAndrew; J. Bhatti, R. Anderson, N. Beavon, R. Knott, L. Carmichael, N. Irvine-Hess, I. Moody, G. Runciman. Replacements: N. Cochrane, D. Elkington, A. Grieve, B. Colvine, G. Wood.