Stuart Cameron takes a look at the movers and shakers as we head towards the end of the season.
MELROSE have been confirmed as the Borders Premiership Team of the Year after their win on Saturday against Aberdeen Grammar.
With Gala having played all their 18 games in the Premiership their neighbours cannot now be caught, with a total of 63 points accrued over their 17 matches played.
The Borders Rugby Rankings came into being four years ago when the Scottish Hydro Electric Trophy was cast to be played for each season. The 18 games played by all seven of our Premiership sides are used to ensure a level playing field, and with two Borders teams in Premier A, two in Premier B and three in Premier C, teams accumulated points against teams in Scotland of a similar standard making the system fair.
It is the first time the trophy will be presented to the same club two years running.
Melrose are top of the table in the Try Scoring list too. They have 57 with one game to play, two ahead of Jed-Forest with Gala and Kelso joint third on 48.
Melrose have the best Attack stats also with 472 amassed this season exclusively in the league with Gala a distant second with 414. But in the Defence department it’s a different story. Selkirk, who have two games still to play in the league, have leaked just 281 in their 16 matches so far, and if they don’t concede more than 37 points in those games they will pip Gala to the title of “Best Defensive team” and following their poor defensive displays in the previous two seasons this is a major improvement which deserves a lot of credit.
Turning to the individual Try rankings list and it’s tight at the top. Heading the list is Gregor Young of Jed-Forest who has 10, Gregg Minto (Kelso) and Fraser Thomson (Melrose) have both scored nine tries in league action this season with Kelso’s Richard Minto on 8.
Overall points leader at the moment is Andrew Skeen with 196 for Melrose, and his only realistic contender is David Cassidy of Selkirk as his side still have two games to play. Cassidy is in third at the moment on 164 with Gala fly half Lee Millar’s league season completed with a total of 183.
MOST LEAGUE POINTS
1 Melrose 63
2 Gala 58
3 Kelso 52
4 Jed-Forest 50
4 Selkirk 50
6 Hawick 31
7 Peebles 23
MOST LEAGUE TRIES
1 Melrose 57
2 Jed-Forest 52
3 Gala 48
3 Kelso 48
5 Hawick 37
6 Selkirk 35
7 Peebles 28
BEST ATTACK
1 Melrose 472
2 Gala 414
3 Kelso 401
4 Jed-Forest 390
5 Selkirk 349
6 Hawick 303
7 Peebles 241
BEST DEFENCE
1 Selkirk 281
2 Gala 318
3 Jed-Forest 336
4 Melrose 345
5 Kelso 349
6 Peebles 413
7 Hawick 417
MOST TRIES BY A PLAYER
10
GREGOR YOUNG (Jed-Forest)
9
GREGG MINTO (Kelso), FRASER THOMSON (Melrose)
8
RICHARD MINTO (Kelso)
7
ALLAN DODDS(Melrose)
DARREN GILLESPIE (Jed-Forest)
DAVID GOBBY (Jed-Forest)
FRASER HARKNESS (Selkirk)
OPETA PALEPOI (Gala)
ANDREW SKEEN (Melrose)
6
BRUCE COLVINE (Melrose)
ALAN EMOND (Gala)
GEORGE GRAHAM (Gala)
ROSS GOODFELLOW (Jed-Forest)
CRAIG ROBERTSON (Gala)
LEWIS YOUNG (Jed-Forest)
5
DONALD ANDERSON (Peebles)
DARREN CLAPPERTON (Selkirk)
EUAN DODS (Gala)
JOE HELPS (Melrose)
STUART LOWRIE (Kelso)
NEIL RENWICK (Hawick)
MOST POINTS BY A PLAYER
1 ANDREW SKEEN (Melrose) 196
2 LEE MILLAR (Gala) 183
3 DAVID CASSIDY (Selkirk) 164
4 NEIL WARNOCK (Peebles) 94
5 CHRIS LAIDLAW (Jed-Forest) 79
6 NEIL RENWICK (Hawick) 72
7 GREG PONTON (Kelso) 68
8 LEE ARMSTRONG (Hawick) 61
9 KIERAN WILKINSON (Kelso) 56
10 GREGOR YOUNG (Jed-Forest) 50
10 EWAN SCOTT (Jed-Forest) 50