Selkirk 10

Edinburgh Accies 31

SELKIRK found themselves forced on to the back foot for long periods of Saturday’s match against Edinburgh Accies at Philiphaugh, eventually succumbing to their first home BT National 1 defeat of the season.

After the final whistle, Selkirk head coach Graham Marshall said he was disappointed by a number of aspects of the home side’s display.

“Our set piece today really hurt us,” he told the selkirkrfc.com web site.

“Accies are a big, physical team, and as well as struggling in the scrums our line-out play was also below par.

“As the game progressed I thought our defensive shape improved significantly, but over the 80 minutes they built up a lot of pressure on us, and that always tells on the defending side at the end of the day.”

Skipper Ross Nixon did his level best to rally his troops from the fly-half berth, and his solid tackling and control when in possession earned him the Four Seasons Forestry ‘Selkirk Man of the Match’ Award.

Equally impressive was openside flanker Matt Robertson, whose speed to the breakdown and tireless support play is making him a key figure in the Selkirk pack. Scrum-half Mikey Davies was another home player to shine.

Ahead 17-10 at the interval, Accies were well served by ex-Selkirk prop Clement Lacour, who as well as scoring one of the visitors’ four tries was named as the city side’s ‘man of the match’. Skipper Jamie Sole led from the front at all times, and was another of Accies’ try scorers.

Selkirk’s points came from a first half try from Mikey Davies, converted by Josh Welsh, who also added a penalty. Accies’ remaining tries were scored by Tom Drennan and Lawrie Seydak, with stand-off Andrew Bell kicking all four conversions and a penalty.

One plus-point for Selkirk was the first appearance of new Kiwi recruit Jackson Wallace, who replaced Davies at scrum-half for the final 20 minutes of the game. Although only arriving in the country 48 hours prior to Saturday’s match, the Southland B threequarter showed enough skill to suggest he will be a more than useful addition to the Philiphaugh squad.

SELKIRK: D. Clapperton, S. Hendrie, L. MacLennan, C. MacDougall, J. Welsh, R. Nixon, M. Davies, K. Cooney, R. Wilson, L. Mabenge, J. McGowan, P. Forrest, M. Gordon, M. Robertson, E. MacDougall. Replacements: J. Wallace, C. Graur, D. Allan, C. MacAulay.