Watsonians 40

Gala 3

Gary Heatly at Myreside

WATSONIANS secured a bonus point win to give themselves a massive boost in their bid to avoid finishing in the bottom two – and left Gala bottom of the pile with some soul searching to do.

Gala were dealt a blow in the warm-up when experienced second-row and co-coach Opeta Palepoi was injured.

He was stretchered off before a ball was kicked with Sean Johnstone stepping up from the bench.

After two minutes Watsonians got the first chance to put points on the board, but stand-off Ewan Scott missed the penalty to the left of the posts.

The same man was yellow carded three minutes later and Gala took advantage as stand-off Gregor Hunter made no mistake with a penalty.

In the eighth minute Watsonians drew level when Chalmers kicked three points.

The home side then had a good spell of pressure with number eight Drummond carrying well. That pressure led to a penalty in the 15th minute which Chalmers missed before Scott returned to the field to bring the Edinburgh side back up to 15 men.

The home pack continued their purple patch and in the 19th minute they kicked another penalty through Scott to make it 6-3.

Gala could – and should – have been level in the 22nd minute, but the usually reliable Hunter did not catch the penalty correctly and it hit the upright and bounced to safety.

His brother Fraser then came off the bench to replace the injured back-row Stevie Cairns.

On the half hour Watsonians bagged the first try of the afternoon. It came when they charged down a clearance kick and centre DJ Innes went over. Scott converted.

The home team continued in the ascendency and in the 34th minute they gained a second try when, from a five metre scrum, the ball was shipped left and ex-Selkirk man Duckett gave the scoring pass to McKean. It was unconverted, but they were 18-3 up.

With two minutes to go before the break, Gregor Hunter’s off day with the boot continued as he missed a penalty and a further failed attempt came just on the whistle leaving Gala with a lot to ponder.

Gala would have been looking for a quick start to the second half, but they slipped further behind.

Backrow Rob Louw knocked on straight from the restart and a few minutes later Scott kicked another penalty to make it 21-3 to the home side.

In the 44th minute Watsonians centre Scott McLeod was yellow carded for a high tackle, but again rather than Gala getting on the front foot their opponents with 14 men just kept attacking.

Watsonians scored two tries when the former Hawick man was off the pitch - winger Keith Young and back row Viliami Fihaki going over for tries to clinch the bonus point. Scott added a conversion and it was 33-3.

Try number five for the hosts came with 17 minutes to go, scrum-half Reiss Cullen the scorer this time with Scott converting to make it 40-3.

With 11 minutes to go Watsonians were handed their third yellow card of the game by the referee Finlay Brown.

This time it was McLean, the former Currie man on his first 15 debut for the club, and with just seconds remaining of the 80 minutes after he had returned to the pitch he was yellowed again and it became a red.

It was a strange ending, but Watsonians were still smiling after this crucial win while Gala have it all to do.

Gala: Graham Speirs; Ross Combe, Dwayne Burrows, Lewis Berg, Paul Hendry; Gregor Hunter, Connor Adams; Chris Keen, Matt Carryer, Terry Skeet, Chris Weir, Sean Johnstone, Robert Louw, Stephen Cairns, Gary Adams. Subs: Dean Brooker, Alan Emond, Sasa Tofilau, Fraser Hunter, Craig Robertson.