Arnold Clark Men's Premiership: Heriot's motor past Kelso in high-scoring affair

03/15/2025 06:04 PM

Heriot's 59

Kelso 31

ALASDAIR REID @ Goldenacre

AN impressive scoreline for Heriot's on a day of big numbers across the board in the Arnold Clark Premiership. But if the margin was comfortable for the home side, Kelso still made a noble contribution – and worthy opposition – by collecting five of the 14 tries the game produced. 

Heriot's coach Bob McKillop admitted to mixed feelings at the end, but he also had high praise for Kelso. "They are a very good rugby team,"  He said. "I still think they are a top half of the table side when they have everyone available. I'm pleased with the top line of the scoreboard at the end, but probably less pleased with the 31 we conceded. But it’s a bonus-point win, so we're happy.

Kelso's Nikki Walker was pleased with the fight his team put up. "We knew that if we didn't defend well we would concede a lot of points," the former Scotland wing said. "It was like that in the first half, but we showed a lot of character in the second. A bonus point at the end after being pretty disappointing at the start is not a bad result."

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The Goldenacre stand was not exactly packed to the rafters, but it still had a decent smattering of hardy souls who preferRed the idea of watching live rugby to parking themselves in front of the telly for a Super Saturday feast of internationals.

For that they were rewarded with bright sunshine and a willingness on the part of both teams to play rugby that matched the conditions. In that regard, Heriot's were markedly more successful in their early endeavours, for they attacked with a killer combination of ambition and accuracy and had three tries to their names before the game was 20 minutes old.

The first of those fell to full-back George Coull, who broke through on the right side with just five minutes gone. Seven minutes later, Heriot's had their second, starting from a line-out on the right and finished by scrum-half Sinjin Broad. Then, just as the first quarter was drawing to a close, the home pack churned through their phases in the Kelso 22, ground down resistance and created the space for Coull to collect his second.

Heriot's do like a try bonus point, and their followers didn't have long to wait for its arrival. A couple of minutes after scoring his second try, Coull completed his hat-trick. With a forth successful conversion by Ross Jones, they were comfortably ahead of a point-per-minute scoring rate – and Kelso looked as if they could do nothing about it.

To their immense credit, though, the Borderers girded themselves, worked a position in the Heriot's 22 and sent centre Frankie Robson over between the posts. Yet eve then it had the whiff of a consolation score, an impression reinforced a minute later when the Heriot's pack thundered back upfield and collected their fifth try through hooker Michael Liness, who finished off with  what could be described as a swallow dive if swallows weighed 18 stone and had significant hair-loss issues.

By the end of the first half we had witnessed two more tries, one falling to Heriot's No 8 and captain Ruairidh Leishman and one to Kelso flanker Ashton Asante. If Asante's score renewed hope in the Kelso ranks, it had gone by the time of the  break as they watched their fly-half Arran Jackson being shown a well-deserved yellow card for a late challenge on Coull that ended the home full-back's involvement in the match.

Kelso suffered another psychological blow in the opening moments of the second period as they were twice forced into reverse by Heriot's scrummaging power. They managed to survive that passage and did even better a few minutes later when they successfully defended a scrum on their own line.

The customary round of replacements seemed to rob Heriot's of some of their momentum, and a flurry of unforced errors suggested they were struggling to find their shape. Still, they continued to dominate possession and territory and had little trouble mopping up Kelso's sporadic attacks.

Heriot's finally got the scoreboard moving again when they broke from deep and sent their Japanese centre Kenta Kutsuna scuttling off to collect their seventh try. The gleeful Kutsuna missed the conversion, but with a 28-point average by then, Heriot's could accommodate that miss.

Yet if complacency was creeping into the Goldenacre side's game, they were given a salutary lesson when Kelso struck back with two quick tries around the hour mark. The first, from hooker Nick Barnes, gave the Poynder Park outfit their try bonus, with full-back Archie Barbour adding the second soon afterwards.

But it was only fair that Heriot's should have the final say and they duly hoisted their scoreline past the half-century mark with a try by Callum Anderson, with Struan Cessford adding their ninth touchdown on the stroke of full time.

Teams –

Heriot's: G Coull; N Sakapaji, K Kutsuna, F Gibson, T Glendinning; R Jones, S Broad; C Keen, M Liness, E McLaren, P Spence, Jamie Campbell, J Hill, S Wallace, R Leishman. Subs: D Neill, A Munro, S Cessford, M Keough, Callum Anderson, R Kirkpatrick, A Reid.

Kelso: A Barbour; D Patterson, H Tweedie, F Robson, R Tweedie; A Jackson, A Tait; G Shiells, N Barnes, D Gamble, C Thompson, K Melbourne, A Asante, M Woodcock, B McNeil. Subs: A McGregor, H Grant, S Wood, N Stingl, W Tweedie, M Cranston, A Utterson

Referee: M Todd

Scorers –

Heriot's: Tries: Coull 3, Broad, Liness, Leishman, Kutsuna, Anderson, Cessford; Cons: Jones 6, Kutsuna.

Kelso: Tries: Robson, Asante, Barnes, Barbour; Cons: Patterson 4, Pen: Patterson.

Scoring Sequence (Heriot’s first): 5-0; 7-0; 7-3; 12-3; 14-3; 19-3; 21-3; 26-3; 28-3; 28-8; 28-10; 33-10; 35-10; 40-10; 42-10; 42-17; 47-17; 47-22; 47-24; 47-29; 47-31; 52-31; 54-31; 59-31

Yellow cards –

Kelso: Jackson, Woodcock

Man-of-the-Match: Jason Hill is not really as old as the hills, but having just passed his 35th birthday he has been around the block a few times. Even so, the qualities that brought him a couple of pro contracts are still evident and the flanker's abrasive style played a big part in Heriot's establishing their dominant forward platform.

Talking point: Kelso probably gave themselves a relegation  lifeline with their run of recent wins. They couldn't add to that sequence here, and were well beaten at the finish, but they won a lot of respect – and a bonus point for good measure – with their never-say-die attitude.

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