Marr kicked off and the ball went dead which just goes to show how strong the wind was blowing on a cool afternoon in Ayrshire.

The first scrum was to set the tone for the forward battle when the Marr pack drove Kelso backwards but Kelso managed to secure the ball.

The first scoring opportunity of the afternoon went to the home side when Kelso were penalised for being offside at the ruck, up stepped Rory McGee who sweetly stroked the ball between the sticks. This kicked off a spell where both sides made some good breaks but a mixture of handling errors and indiscipline meant that there was real scoring opportunities.

Marr were handling the ball better than their visitors and when Andrew Skeen had his clearance kick charged down, the ball was fed along the line and prop forward William Farquhar scored in the corner, he was also injured in the act of scoring and this ended his afternoon prematurely. McGee added the extras with a great effort from the touchline.

The men from Troon were now well in control and extended their lead on 22 minutes when left winger Andrew Gault managed to break a couple of tackles to score at the corner, again McGee landed the extras.

It took the home side just three minutes to score another try, Callum Rowlandson saw yellow when he was not back 10metres from a penalty and the quick tap was fed along the line for Gault to score his second try, again tackles were missed by the Kelso defence. McGee stepped up and kicked the extras.

Kelso came into the game at this point and managed to spend a few minutes in the Marr half, this resulted in a very good try for Tony Wichary in the corner after some strong running by Frankie Robson and Richard Minto. Some confusion over the conversion but the referee awarded the 2 pts!

The home side extended their lead on 35 minutes when EDP prop D’arcy Rae smashed his way over from close range after Marr spent a good few minutes pressuring the Kelso line.

The Tweedsiders has a good spell in the lead up to half time and went close after a good run from Callum Rowlandson but a knock on inside the 22 meant that Kelso left with nothing and the half ended with no further scoring.

Marr coach Craig Redpath, a former pupil of Kelso High School, demanded that his side worked harder in the second half and they started on the front foot. Only some dogged defence and some handling errors from the home side meant that Marr couldn’t add to their lead in the opening period.

On 50 minutes the visitors looked to have scored a very good try from Callum Rowlandson but referee Charles Samson was on the opposite side from the ball and decided that the ball was held up. Kelso stayed on the front foot and, two minutes later, Ian Wallace scored a try from a driving line out. Andrew Skeen looked to have missed the conversion but to his surprise the flags went up!

The Kelso try sparked the home side back to life and they enjoyed a good few minutes in the Kelso half without creating many try scoring opportunities. At this point the scrums started to collapse and Kelso were penalised on a few occasions, when Kelso infringed at the next scrum referee Samson had enough and awarded Marr a penalty try which McGee converted.

Kelso were starting to throw the ball around better and Craig Russell went on a long run into the Marr 22 after breaking numerous tackles but as was often the case, a pass didn’t go to hand and the home side managed to clear the danger. On 76 minutes Kelso were pressing in the Marr 22 but when a pass to Richard Minto didn’t go to hand, home flyer Scott Bickerstaff picked the ball up and ran 70 metres to score a very good individual try in the corner.

Marr were to have the last say and scored a very good team try in the corner through 2nd row Fraser Grant. Mcgee missed the conversion and the final whistle sounded soon after.

A very good performance from Marr but for Kelso they drop to joint second bottom in the table after a game in which they showed plenty effort but too many handling errors and they also conceded too many penalties that took their toll.

Gary Holborn was quick to praise the performances of Ross Henderson and Tony Wichary who both set the benchmark of performance that he is looking for.

Holborn is already focusing on the home match versus Jed next week. He said: “We will see who deserves to wear the black and white shirt next week in the biggest Borders derby of them all.”