Arnold Clark Men's Premiership: Currie Chieftains victorious over Kelso in a roller-coaster ride of a match

03/22/2025 04:42 PM

Kelso 38

Currie Chieftains 54

DAVID FERGUSON @ Poynder Park

CURRIE CHIEFTAINS virtually sealed their place in the play-offs with a comprehensive win over Kelso, while the hosts claimed a bonus point that could be valuable in their battle to escape relegation. But as the scoreline suggests there was much more to this bizarre encounter than a straightforward result.

The powerful visitors looked imperious in the first half-hour, backs and forwards ignoring the numbers on their jerseys to pop up all over the pitch and shred the Kelso defence with five tries by the 27th minute. The game had a distinct feel of a mismatch at this stage.

But two fine tries in the five minutes before half-time lifted the large Poynder Park crowd, injected hope into the home dressing room, and the second half proved an entertaining affair that ended incredibly 21-21, and ensured the four-try bonus for the Borderers.

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Bruce McNeil, their player-coach, was at the heart of the comeback, scoring four tries of his own off scrum and line-out mauls, but he wasn’t celebrating.

"You can't be looking to pull positives out of shipping 54 points," he said. "The frustrating thing is that we knew they would come at us physically from the start, because we've experienced it, and we said we had to start well and stop them from playing.

"Clearly, that didn't happen, and they got too far away from us in that first period. But, yes, the two tries before half-time got us going, and I am proud of the way we boys played in the second half and showed the spirit that this team has.

"You can talk about putting bodies on the line, but that's the minimum we expect here – boys putting their heads in the spokes. It's what we did around that that was key and got us the opportunities to score tries. Now, we have to see where we went wrong early on and prepare for a better performance against Hawks next week."

The way the picture of this game swung is what takes some getting the head around. From when impressive Currie scrum-half Gregor Christie took Scott Robeson's pass in the sixth minute, to finish a move which had involved big charges by front-rows Chris Anderson and Ryan Stewart, there was an almost metronomic precision about the way they cut open the home defence and finished off.

Kelso were missing key forwards Keith Melbourne and Jack Utterson, and their fragile strength in depth was clear when Currie rolled on more big, physical forwards, and yet the visitors did not dominate the set-piece. Still, it was too easy at times for Currie to score by exploiting missed tackles.

Lock Ali Bain and Stewart added to the visiting pack's try count, underlining their enthusiasm for open rugby, and flying winger Ryan Daley and Robeson touched down for the backs at almost regular five-minute intervals. A Dwain Patterson penalty was the only response from the hosts.

Kelso had been fighting hard for ball, with lock Cammy Thompson particularly impressive in his work, but their toil seemed to be counting for nothing until the Borderers sprung a two-try surprise just before the break.

The Kelso pack matched Currie in the set-piece, and drove them back many metres in line-out mauls, and that provided their route back, with McNeil scoring off a maul in the 35th minute. Stand-off Liam Herdman's sublime skill produced the second three minutes later, when he ran at the Currie backline and chipped the ball into space behind them. Hamish Tweedie, the outside centre, was first to it and hacked the ball 30 metres to the Currie line. Herdman showed terrific pace to beat the Currie cover to the bouncing ball and dived on it over the line. Patterson's two conversions cut the deficit at half-time to 33-17, and while Currie still seemed in command it was far more interesting.

Currie try-scorer Robeson commented afterwards: "Well that was a great game for the crowd – we like to entertain!

"We played Kelso a few weeks ago and got into a good lead, and they came back at us strongly, so we expected that. We enjoyed the first half-hour throwing the ball about like the Currie way, running good support lines and sticking to the script we came into the game with. But we probably got a bit loose after that and gave them too many ways back into the game.

"Fair play to Kelso because they took their chances, but they are a good team and like all the Borders sides you never get an easy game down here. We played Hawks, who are ninth, as well, and that was tough, and today again we saw what happens when you take the foot off.

"But, hopefully, that's us almost there with the play-offs and we'll take lessons from this one into the final games."

Kelso opened the second half with another McNeil try, off a line-out maul, but Robeson came back with the second of his first senior hat-trick before a yellow-card for lock Courtney West provided an indication of Kelso's increasing ability to get into Currie faces.

The visitors put the game out of reach with Robeson and Kerr Johnston scoring tries seven and eight, the pack making the yards –  No 8 Ed Hasdell a key totem in attack –  and Kelso wing Patterson was shown a yellow for a deliberate knock-on.

But ensuring the see-saw nature of this engrossing contest continued, it was Kelso who finished the stronger. A superb 50-metre kick to touch from replacement fly-half Isaac Coates set Kelso up for another line-out maul, finished by McNeil, and, with Currie now down to 14 – Wallace Nelson having been the latest to be shown a yellow card by impressive referee Chelsea Gillespie – the Kelso pack drove their talisman over once again for a fifth try, bringing the curtain down on a strange, but entertaining ding-dong encounter.

Teams –

Kelso: A Barbour; D Patterson, H Tweedie, F Robson, R Tweedie; L Herdman, A Tait; G Shiells, E Knox, D Gamble, C Thompson, M Shaw, S Wood, M Woodcock, B McNeil. Subs: N Barnes, A McGregor, M Cranston, I Coates, W Tweedie, A Sweenie, A Hall.

Currie Chieftains: C Brett; I Sim, R Southern S Robeson, R Daley; A Harley, G Christie; C Anderson, R Stewart, C Ramsay, C West, A Bain, R Davies, S Cardosi, E Hasdell. Subs: R Vucago, G Carson, G Scougall, W Nelson, A Fletcher, K Johnston, F Sayers.

Referee: Chelsea Gillespie.

Scorers –

Kelso: Tries: McNeil 4, Herdman; Cons: Patterson 4, Coates; Pen: Patterson.

Currie Chieftains: Tries: Christie, Bain, Stewart, Daley, Robeson 3, Johnston.

Scoring sequence (Kelso first): 0-5; 0-7; 0-12; 3-12; 3-17; 3-19; 3-24; 3-26; 3- 31; 3-33; 8-33; 10-33; 15-33; 17-33 (h-t) 22-33; 24-33; 24-38; 24-40; 24-45; 24-47; 24- 52; 24-54; 29-54; 31-54; 36-54; 38-54.

Man-of-the-Match: Contenders aplenty in both sides this week, with full-back Fraser Sayers and scrum-half Gregor Christie key to Currie’s back play, and centre Scott Robeson a top finisher, while everyone in the pack had their moments – No 8 Ed Hasdell is a machine of a player with basketball player's hands. For Kelso, Bruce McNeil's four tries and general influence was huge, the front-row matched their bigger opponents, and Murray Woodcock was immense again, but for a full 80-minute outstanding performance, home second-row Cammy Thompson had few peers, so the young lock takes the honours this week despite being on the losing side.

Talking point: Currie supporters were bemoaning the way they let Kelso back into the game after a fine first half-hour, while Kelso supporters were praising their comeback and questioning why it took so long to get to grips with the visitors. If there were any neutrals, they would be talking about the great entertainment value that this game produced – a terrific advert for Scottish club rugby.

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