Boom time for borders athletics

Published 21 Dec 2012 07:30

MELROSE are hoping to turn the tables on Nottingham this weekend at the Greenyards in the British and Irish Cup.

Fresh from a crushing 54-24 defeat on Friday night at Notts County's ground by the English Championship's third-placed team, the Scottish champions will spend the week plotting their revenge.

And the club's director of rugby, Mike Dalgetty, is confident they can do it. He told us: "They are a very good side who could well be in the English Premiership next season, but we matched them in the second half.

"We will always fancy our chances at home and we showed last Friday that when we do hold onto the ball we will cause problems."

John Dalziel and Ross Ovens were both struck down by the winter vomiting bug during last weekend's trip.

But both are expected to have made a full recovery ahead of Saturday.

High-flying Gala will travel down to Mosley knowing that a victory would create Scottish history.

George Graham's team, who are just two points behind their hosts, would become the first Scots club to top a British & Irish Cup pool.

But the head coach admits his side are facing a tough task to do the double over the Birmingham side. He said: "Saturday was a fantastic result for us. We don't want to get carried away but we will go down there looking for the win against a very good Mosely team."

Gala's only other game on the road so far, at Llanelli, saw them concede three early tries.

And the coach is certain his players won't get caught cold again.

He added: "We spoke about the Llanelli game on Saturday - we've learned a lot since then.

"We are improving every week. We were fantastic against London Scottish and even better against Moseley. Now we need to be better again."

Gala travel to Mosely on Friday afternoon with a full squad.

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