Focused Melrose refuse to take eyes off the prize
● Forward dominance allows Borderers to extend their perfect record and leave rivals scratching their heads over how to beat them
Since the opening day of the BT Premiership season, the key question has been can anyone beat Melrose? Every week so far, the answer has been a resounding no.
Rob Chrystie’s side are taking nothing for granted as they bid to regain the league title, and that absence of complacency is one reason why they sit top of the table today with a maximum haul of 60 points from 12 games. Other clubs know they are going to play at a relentlessly high tempo, aiming to prevail with a combination of power and pace. But knowing their game plan is one thing, knowing how to stop it succeeding is quite another, as Finlay Gillies admitted after seeing his team concede five tries, four of them to driven mauls.
“They’re a metronome of discipline and consistency – it’s really difficult to beat them,” the Glasgow Hawks head coach said.
“That’s the reason they’re top of the league. They’re so consistent and very well organised.
“Every single lineout they do, they’ll split three-three, Ian Moody will walk in the middle and go up. But there’s no point in us competing, because they’re so accurate at that. We’re better staying down and trying to stop them.
“I’ve watched their videos till I’m blue in the face. You know what they’re going to do. It’s like playing Saracens or something like that. It’s all well and good that you know Billy Vunipola is coming round the corner – it’s stopping him. They’re big strong boys.”
Hawks had one really good spell in this match, just before half-time when Melrose’s Angus Runciman was in the sin bin for a high tackle. The home team fought back from 12-0 down to 12-10 during that time, but once the Borderers were restored to 15 men they resumed their domination. Melrose centre Nyle Godsmark, pictured, opened the scoring, but thereafter it was the pack who took control. Hooker Russell Anderson, who would end up with a hat-trick, got the second from a penalty kicked to touch and Craig Jackson converted. Hawks’ riposte came from a Grant Stewart double, both from lineout drives, but crucially the conversion attempts and a penalty were all off target. “We missed seven points in kicks in the first half, so we could have been up at half-time,” Gillies accepted. “That’s a big difference.”
There was by no means a gulf between the sides after the break, but Melrose did have the edge in almost every area of the game. Anderson first extended their lead then got the bonus-point try, and although Kyle Rowe hit back with the best score of the game, grounding in the left corner after an exquisitely weighted kick from Ross Thompson, Melrose had the last word with a Grant Runciman try and a Jackson penalty.
“I thought we played some really nice stuff,” said Melrose coach Chrystie. “I’d like to think that we can play in a few different ways and we showed that again today.”
They can win in a few different ways too. And the nine other teams in the division have yet to come up with a single way of making them lose.