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JED-FOREST R.F.C |
Riverside Park |
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Jedburgh |
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TD8 6UE |
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01835 862232 |
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2006-2007 Reports 31st Mar Berwick 14 - 29 Jed-Forest
________________________________________________ 24th Mar Jed-Forest 11 - 16 Kelso
Gala 2nds 15 - 31 Jed-Forest
________________________________________ 17th Mar Jed-Forest 19 - 25 Cartha Queens Park
_________________________________________________________________ 10th Mar Jed-Forest 55 - 0 Langholm (BL) Try scorers were Robert Hogg 4, Scott Laidlaw 2, Gary Elder, Ross Goodfellow and Roy McFarlane. Gary Hill kicked 5 conversions.
_____________________________________________ 9th March Jed-Forest 2nds 7 - 27 Selkirk 2nds Despite scoring first from a David Gobby try , converted by Tom Elliot Jed did not take advantage of a very strong 1st half wind advantage and we were cruelly exposed by the more streetwise Selkirk half backs. On a positive note were able to give four Thistle boys some game time.
____________________________________________________ 3rd Mar Jed-Forest 21 - 17 Cartha Queens Park Jed were able to turn a 17 - 14 half time deficit into a scrappy victory and perhaps more importantly gain a bit of superiority ahead of the cup game on the 17th. Ross Goodfellow put us in front when he waltzed through a gap in the forwards from a ruck near their line. We were 14 - 7 before Michael Graham found himself at centre and with a massive dummy pass and a shimmy of the hips he sidestepped the defence and sprinted under the posts. Cartha kicked a good drop goal to take a 3 point half time lead. In a slow second half the only points came when Gary hill came on a crash ball and fellow centre Simon Lightbody was on his shoulder for the pop pass and he crashed over under the posts. We did have to withstand some real pressure at the end from a succession of 5 yard scrums but with Batsey in full cry we held firm.
3rd Mar Hawick 2nds 71 - 14 Jed-Forest The 2nds were blown away by a very strong Hawick team who were looking to clinch the league title. With the kick off at 2 o'clock, Hawick played 4 players in the first half who went on to sit on the bench and play for the 1st xv and playing with the wind they scored 49 unanswered points by half time. The 2nd half was slightly better and tries from Robert Ferguson and Scott Martin, converted by Tom Elliot gave us some slight consolation.
____________________________________________________ 24th Feb Haddington 2nds 20 - 23 Jed-Forest 2nds This game doubled up as both a league match and cup match after earlier post postponments and Haddington fielded a much different and strong outfit. We were able to give former Jed player Tim Van Vleit a run out and the lads who sneaked off to Dublin last week. Jed were on the defence for large sections of the first half playing up the hill and were soon behind when their flying winger skinned Miller and Gooby and then kicked an easy penalty. Jed Replied in great form with some good forward drives which tied in the home teams defence to allow space further out for Burt to score. The home team scored again after some panic in the Jed backs allowed them to use their numbers to romp over in the corner. Jed did muster the odd attack and Smail kick a good pen to reduce their lead. Jed forwards then withstood a 10 min spell of constant home drives, lineouts & scrums on their line with great defensive spirit. Disappointing though cos the home team decided to spread it and some weak tackles allowed their hefty center to score under the posts. Ht Had 20 Jed 8. Jed fully dominated the second spell like their hosts did in the first as they upped the tempo and ran everything at their hosts and probably produced the best rucking performance in many a year! The home teams defence finally succumed to the constant pressure when Jed broke blind and with many in support Tim Van Vliet sent a dummy and powered over with Smail converting. The home team barely got near the Jed 22 all half and Jeds pressure finally paid off with 7 mins to go when Hastie riggled and fought his way through 3 tackles to reach the line but Smail pushed the conversion wide. With the scores tied Jed pushed hard for the win and Smail missed with a long range pen soon after but with 2 mins to go he nailed an easier attempt through cries of "bottle it" from the home support! Jed were nearly sold a dummy seconds after the ko when Had were awarded a pen and they pointed to the posts (no way was this lads going to kick it from half way!) so with the Jed players backing away for the kick he tapped and ran!! Jed manged to re-organise and a knock on brought a deserved victory to Jed with a hard fought match. The whole of the Jed pack showed amazing desire and commitment to defend like they did in the first half and the teams ability to up the pace and dominate as a group in the second was excellent. Going forward Tim Van Vleit had a great game carrying endless balls forward and fully deserves the man of the match!
______________________________________________________ 17th Feb
Stirling County 29 - 28 Jed-Forest Jed came very close to taking the points against long time Prem 2 leaders Stirling County at Bridgehaugh yesterday in a thrilling encounter played in great conditions. This being our only match in February you are never certain how things will go after almost 3 weeks without a game, and things looked ominous early on when we failed to gather the kick off and Stirling kept possession and launched wave after wave of attacks, to be fair though this was met by some fine defending from the Jed side. They did break through to cross the line but this was done illegally and was pulled back for crossing in midfield. This allowed Jed to clear their lines and set up some good phases of play in the Stirling half that eventually allowed Hill to put as 3-0 with the first penalty attempt of the day. Stirling replied with the first try of the day when their scrum half tried to chip over from an attacking ruck it was half charged down but broke to the Stirling centre – who was well in front of the kicker- this was converted to put them 3-7 ahead. Jed again launched several counters and were awarded a penalty wide out on the right but Hill was confident with his new boots and made no mistake. Stirling responded with a penalty to stretch the lead to 6-10. Jed then scored their first try right on half time when a quickly taken lineout allowed Henderson to give a well timed pass to Goodfellow who finished superbly in the corner. Hill extended the half time lead to 13-10 with a superb touchline conversion. The lead changed hands again early in the second half when Stirling broke through after stretching the Jed defence for a touchdown that was converted for a 13-17 lead. Jed responded with Hill knocking over a third penalty to cut the deficit. Jed then enjoyed their best period of the match. A well executed lineout move allowed Henderson and then Elder to take play to within 5 metres of the tryline and a neat switch of play allowed Clark Laidlaw to slice through the Stirling cover to score , Hill again converting for 23-17. Stirling came back at Jed but when Laidlaw managed a turn over on the Jed 22 the ball was quickly fed out the backs with Lightbody releasing Hogg on half way and with McFarlane outside him and the fullback to beat he decided to put on the burners and go for it himself and managed to outstrip the home cover for a brilliant score in the corner. Hills’ conversion was on target but just dipped under the cross bar (if only!!) 28-17 Jed. At this stage with about 25 minutes to go Jed could have done to hold their 11 point lead for a while as Stirling were looking decidedly rattled. When a box kick was cleared up to the Jed 10 metre line their winger fielded well but should have been tackled he then beat about 5 Jed defenders with a superb run before releasing the backs for a simple score that went unconverted to leave it 22-22. Stirling then battered their way into the Jed 22 for probably the most crucial period of the match. A series of scrums were awarded near the Jed line and although Stirling held the upper hand in the scrum but the Jed pack kept them out .When it looked like they might be on for a pushover Goodfellow pounced on loose ball at the back and secured the turnover. Unfortunately the pass to Laidlaw to allow us to clear our lines cleared Laidlaws head and the advertising hoardings at the back of the dead ball line!! This just seem to make the Jed pack dig deeper and when we wheeled the next scrum we again turned them over to allow us to clear. Eventually though Stirling managed to get a driving maul going from a lineout and despite our best efforts they got their bonus point score but were still 1 point adrift. The home kicker made sure with the conversion to bring a huge cheer from the Stirling support who were starting to panic as there was only 5 minutes left. Jed pushed everything at them for the last 5 but couldn’t find another score and had to settle for a losing bonus but Stirling knew they had used their Get out of Jail card today. Defeat is always hard take but that was a very good performance by Jed and it would not have been undeserved if we had taken the points. Loads of fine performances from Jed but our set piece struggled at times against a large Stirling team. The ‘old’ heads in the backs played well Hill and Lightbody were much more like themselves in midfield both in attack and defence. Half backs Goodfellow and Laidlaw were immense especially in defending and also launching some dangerous counter attacks. Scott Laidlaw and Hendy gave a huge lead up front and were well supported by the rest of the pack.
______________________________________________________ 2nd Feb Kelso 2nds 13 - 20 Jed-Forest Jed 2nds had a fine 20-13 down at Kelso last nightin the new 2nds League cup competition. A lot of credit to Roy Laidlaw and Ali McIlroy for digging out enough players to find a 15 never mind win the game as well. Rob Ferguson , Marti Hastie and Neil Smail were mentioned for having good games, scorers were John Scott, Robert Ferguson & Michael Elder, Ryan Miller added a conversion and a penalty
_________________________________________________ 31st Jan Jed-Forest 55 - 10 Forrester Jed beat Forresters 55-10 in front of a good sized crowd last night. Unfortunately our handling didnt match up to the perfect conditions at Riverside last night especially in the first half. Early tries from Michael Graham and Scott Laidlaw helped us to a 12-3 lead but an interception score closed it to 12-10 but a score from McFarlane helped take it to 19-10 at the break. The fitness told in the end with a further 6 tries, 3 from Ross Goodfellow and 1 each for Lightbody,Cranston and Cook with Hill kicking 5 conversions. Another late injury however may mean the end of the season for Neil Cook when he damaged his shoulder in the closing stages. Jed now face either Ross High or Cartha at home in the next round, the date for this tie is still to be confirmed though as Cartha also have a couple of outstanding league games to fit in as well.
_______________________________________________________ 27th Jan Jed-Forest 25 - 6 Selkirk Not a classic but a deserved win against a Selkirk side that is low on confidence in the relegation zone. Jed won by 25-6 in the end despite trailing 5-6 at the break. A line out drive finished off by Ally Hall put Jed in front after about 25 min but Selkirk responded with two Cassidy penalties to take the half time lead. The handling errors continued in the second half and eventually a Clark Laidlaw drop goal put us in front, this was quickly followed by a charge down try from Gary Hill which he also converted to put us 15-6 up and well in command with about 10 minutes to go Hendy pounced on another handling error and looked like going in from about 35m but offloaded to scott Laidlaw who made certain giving Hilly an easy conversion. Jed tried to chase down this elusive try bonus point but yet again had to settle for a 4 point victory.
Jed-Forest 2nds 22 - 30 Melrose 2nds
____________________________________________ 13th Jan Hillhead/Jordanhill 10 - 8 Jed-Forest
___________________________________________________________ 6th Jan Jed-Forest 26 - 19 Edinburgh Accies In a very competitive match played against promotion chasers Edinburgh Accies Jed were rewarded for their sheer guts and determination with a 26 - 19 victory. Another slow start to the game saw Jed on the back foot with the huge Accies forwards showing their determination to keep things tight and dominate the rolling maul. Jed on the other hand were showing glimpses of what the coaches had been working on in the holiday period with the centers and back row looking for quick off loads in the contact area. It was the Accies forward who produced the first score. A lineout close to the scoreboard corner was gathered and the forwards got behind the ball to drive over, the try was converted. Donald Grieve kicked a penalty to close the gap but a silly mix up when we were attacking the Accies 22 saw them ship a quick ball out to their winger who flew up the wee stand side and easily beat the covering Ross Goodfellow to score under the posts. Just as it looked like we might be getting out muscled Robert Hogg bust through the Accies back line but it looked like the full back had him covered but Robert was swerving all over the place and totally bamboozled him with his pace and he strolled over the line to the great delight of a decent kop crowd. We went in at half time 14 - 10 down. The second half struggled to match the first half intensity for the first 20 minutes but a couple of cheap penalties had given us a 16 - 14 lead. This saw the Accies stick to their rolling maul tactics even more, Scott Laidlaw did force a couple of valuable turn overs but they were making good yards every time as we were really struggling to stop it A scrum on their 22 gave us a rare chance to pressure their line and from a first phase move Robert Hogg switched back up the blind side to score another brilliant try which Donald converted from wide out. The Accies forwards didn't take this too well and the drove over at the kop end but luckily for us the conversion bounced back of the far away post. Donald Grieve kicked another penalty to give us a 7 point advantage before he was forced off with a broken leg sustained whilst trying to stop yet another Accies rumble with only a minute to go. The referee informed the players that there was 4 minutes to play and every minute of that was played in our 22 with us holding on. A final knock on allowed us a scrum and an easy clearance kick let the referee blow up for full time much to the delight of the Jed players and supporters.
___________________________________________ 26th Dec Jed-Forest 10 - 8 Hawick
_________________________________________ 16th Dec GHA 13 - 6 Jed-Forest GHA
eventually overpowered a very gutsy effort from the Jed with a converted try in
injury time to seal victory and effectively end any chance of promotion for this
season. Jed traveled up to GHA hoping to record their 5th successive
win in Glasgow but their powerful pack on a heavy pitch managed to edge it for
the home side despite some heroic defending by Jed during the second half.
Jed
started the match well with a huge hit in midfield from Simon Lightbody setting
up a great chance in the opening minute of the game but after holding out a
number of Jed attacks GHA defence held firm and eventually cleared their lines.
Midway through the half GHA landed a penalty for a 3-0 lead and held the lead
until late in the half when Donald Grieve landed a penalty after missing with
two previous attempts. This leveled it up at 3-3 which was about right at half
time.
During
the second half the home pack started to put pressure on the Jed line and were
rewarded with a simple penalty to take the lead when Jed were penalised at a
ruck. Jed were then reduced to 14 men when Paul Thomson who had just come on as
a sub was sin binned for an infringement at the breakdown as the ref had warned
Jed that the next penalty could result in a yellow card. It was hard enough to
keep them out with a full pack,
so the next 10 minutes produced some incredible defence with Jed captain
Henderson leading by example, we also lost Ally Hall with a shoulder
injury which didn’t help matters . With GHA keeping Jed pinned back in their
own half with some fine kicking Jed tried to stick with their game plan and kept
the ball alive well and produced some fine breakouts but couldn’t get any
reward from their efforts. GHA continued to lay siege on the Jed line as the
game neared the finish and Jed looked to have thwarted another effort but when
the Jed pack was shunted back under their own posts Jed were unable to stop the
GHA scrum half pouncing on the ball to secure the points and the simple
conversion meant Jed wouldn’t even get the consolation bonus point.
Jed
players could be proud of their efforts and it was encouraging to see the
willingness in all the players to play an expansive game and keep the ball alive
in contact together with some tremendous defending it was good performance
despite the final outcome. Player of the day was very hard to sort out as it was a very good team performance today even though we were beat. GHA was the better team on the day and we can have no complaints. A special mention must go to veteran Steven Hume who came in and did a fantastic shift when we needed him.
Melrose 2nds 15 - 6 Jed-Forest 2nds
__________________________________________________________ 9th Dec Jed-Forest 15 - 15 Biggar
Jed-Forest 2nds 29 - 10 Peebles 2nds
______________________________________________________ 2nd Dec Gala 10 - 8 Jed-Forest
Berwick 2nds 13 - 13 Jed-Forest 2nds
___________________________________________________________ 18th Nov Jed-Forest 19 - 16 Hamilton On a dark, cold winters day Jed did their bit to warm up the 100 ex players who were all together for the very first Jed-Forest ex players day with a last kick of the match win. Another slow start gave Hamilton an 8 - 0 lead which they truly deserved, Jed's only bright spark was debut boy, David Gobby's runs from fullback. Jed got back into the game in spectacular style. Roy McFarlane fielded a failed clearance kick and broke inside, he fed David Gobby who thundered up the wing. Just as it looked like he'd run out of space Neil Smail appeared on his inside and a great pass from Gobby game him an easy run in. Donald Grieve converted. Hamilton kicked another penalty to take them into half time 11 - 7 up. The second half gave us almost instant hope when Donald kicked a penalty to take us with in a point. In fact he put us in front with another, awarded for a high tackle and we looked to be taking control, but being Jed it's never that easy. Some slack tackling combined with some determined running from the Hamilton guys saw them score in the corner to take the lead again. Donald Grieve leveled the scores with another penalty which was awarded for the second high tackle of the second half and in fact Hamilton were lucky to still have 15 men on the pitch. It looked like the game was heading for the draw that was probably the fair result but Bengy Barsani the Hamilton No 7 was caught interfering in the ruck for the umpteenth time, he was not happy and we got another 10 yards closer because of his complaints. We opted for the kick but Donald was made to wait as the Hamilton captain was having his say. He kept his calm though and struck a beautiful penalty to give us another last gasp win over Hamilton. Jed did suffer an injury blow 10 minutes into the game when Simon Lightbody suffered an injury to his neck muscles.
________________________________________________ 11th Nov Jed-Forest 15 - 22 Stewarts Melville Jed paid the price of a very lackluster first 20 minutes against Stew Mel on Saturday. We were 19 - 0 down before we realized where we were and facing a massive up hill struggle. Michael Graham got us on the scoreboard with a try from a lineout drive which Don Grieve converted and we went into halftime 19 - 7 down. Ten minutes into the second half Robert Hogg gave Jed some real hope with an absolutely brilliant try. He started from his own 22 and started a cross field run scorched between 2 Stew Mel defenders and set off. Just as it looked like the covering full back might cut him off, Roy McFarlane made a run inside which confused the full back, Hoggy checked, spun round and took off down the touch line to score a dream try. With 15 minutes to go Jed had a series of scrums on the Stew Mel line and the front 5 had complete dominance but a fumbled pick up and a dodgy linesman call for stamping on the scrum half's hand which saw Don Grieve sin binned, killed our momentum and any real chance of victory. A penalty apiece in the last 10 minutes completed the scoring.
10th Nov Jed-Forest 2nds 24 - 46 Hawick 2nds
____________________________________________________________ 4th Nov Kelso 14 - 25 Jed-Forest
___________________________________________________ 3rd Nov Jed-Forest 2nds 65 - 12 Kelso
_____________________________________________________________ 28th Oct Cartha Queens Park 13 - 14 Jed-Forest As Halloween approaches Jed were determined to make up for last seasons horror show when Cartha demolished us by 50 points. The omens didn’t look to good as the bus got delayed in horrendous traffic coming through Glasgow allowing only a brief warm up.
Jed
started brightly enough but Donald Grieve narrowly failed with 2 penalty
attempts in the first ten minutes as Jed played down the hill. Cartha then had
some good play to take play into the Jed 22 and when the defence was too slow in
coming up to meet the Cartha backline their No 10 was able to put their winger
in at the corner for the opening score. Jed hit back with a penalty from Grieve
and were unlucky not too score a try when Cartha brought down a lineout drive
which was looking like producing Jeds’ first try. Jed then managed another
penalty to take a 6-5 lead into the break to end a scrappy 40 minutes. With
Cartha having the slope and the elements in their favour Jed knew they would
have to improve their play and to be fair they did.
Jed-Forest 2nds 20 - 3 Gala 2nds
___________________________________________________________________ 21st Oct Jed-Forest 3 - 11 Stirling County Stirling County proved to be too big and strong for the smaller Jed pack at Riverside on Saturday especially in the back row where their number 8, Justin Matheson was probably the main difference between the teams. Stirling lead 3 - 0 at half time through a single penalty in quite a close contest. Both teams had chances but a stray pass or knock on at the vital moment kept the score board idle. The second half was more of the same, Neil
Smail and Jamie McRaw made good breaks which eventually petered out and in truth
we never really threatened their try line. Edinburgh apprentice Ben Addison
broke the try scoring deadlock with a neat break on the hour mark to take County
into an 8 - 0 lead. Donald Grieve kicked a nice long penalty to take us within 5 points and at least the possibility was there for a bonus point but almost straight away Stirling had a chance of their own which stand off Archibald duly converted. We never threatened after that and if the way the Stirling boys celebrated the final whistle is any indicator they were highly delighted with their win. Not a bad performance from the Jed boys and maybe the passes or breaks would have worked on another day, lets hope they do on Saturday when we face the daunting trip to play Cartha Queens Park.
Jed-Forest 2nds 12 - 8 Hawick 2nds
_______________________________________________________________ 14th Oct Selkirk 18 - 18 Jed-Forest On reflection Jed will look back and think that when they finally managed to take the lead against a stuffy Selkirk side they should have held on to take the four points instead they conceded a needless penalty and with the last kick of the match Cassidy slotted home from about 45m for a draw that Selkirk probably deserved. From a Jed view though we played against 14 men for 30min of the game as Selkirk had 3 different players sin-binned but given the way we started the match you would have taken someone's hand off if they offered us 2 points from the game. Jed were forced to make a few changes due to injury problems this week and this seemed to cause uncertainty in our defensive line as Selkirk tore us to shreds in the early exchanges with No8 Heatlie twice finishing of moves the second following a dreadful series of missed tackles. Donald Grieve then managed a penalty to settle Jed but Selkirk responded quickly with another penalty to lead 15-3 after about 20 minutes. Strong words from some of the experienced players seemed to get things sorted out and Jed dominated the rest of the half with the forwards eventually driving over a lineout for Scott Laidlaw to score leaving it 15-8 at the interval. The second half almost started in similar fashion to the first with Selkirk on top and prop Murray almost scored when poor defence allowed him to barge his way to the line. Jed survived and from then on had most of the game launching a series of attacks into Selkirk territory almost resulting in McCraw squeezing in at the corner. This led to some punches being thrown and Selkirk reduced to 14 when Rumney was sin-binned, Hendy showing good restraint not to join him in the bin. After a number of attempts to get over the try line Jed were eventually given a penalty that was unfortunately pushed wide from about 20m out. Selkirk then missed from about 40m after Jed were harshly penalised at a scrum. Donald Grieve then landed his second penalty from distance to make it 15-11. After another series off attacks Jed were adjudged to be held up over the line but they managed to keep the pressure on Selkirk and when a stray pass into their in goal Goodfellow hounded Cassidy into fluffing his clearance along the deck towards Hendy who would have scored if he had been able to gather the ball when the ball rebounded off his chest you felt it might not be Jed's day. Jed then ran the ball from deep when they spotted a miss match and Paul Pringle who had a fine match broke up the line before allowing Hill , Hogg and McCraw to take play deep into Selkirk territory the ball was spun the other way and fine handling almost led to a fine score but again Selkirk held firm. Jed then won a lineout close to the Selkirk line and after the forwards tried to drive over Goodfellow found space to dive over in the corner for the vital try. When Grieve slotted a superb conversion from the touchline it looked as though Jed had made Selkirk pay for their indiscipline and snatched a vital away win. This was not to be as Jed cleared form the kick off play was taken to the Jed 10m line and when Jed needlessly infringed at the breakdown Selkirk were given the chance to tie the score with the last kick of the day, with which Cassidy duly obliged. Best for Jed was scum half Goodfellow who will be sorely missed when he heads to New Zealand next month to visit Jason Gill. His reading of the game was superb with great covering at the back as well as launching several of the Jed attacks. Also in fine form was the back row with Paul Pringle carrying the ball well and Donald Grieve as always working tirelessly as well as performing well with the kicking duties. It was also good to see Gary Hill come off the bench for his first action since his injury at Kelso 7s.
Jed-Forest 2nds 36 - 10 Haddington 2nds
___________________________________________________________ 7th Oct Jed-Forest 10 - 0 Hillhead/Jordanhill
___________________________________________________________________ 30th Sept Edinburgh Accies 23 - 10 Jed-Forest
29th Sept Selkirk 2nds 12 - 5 Jed-Forest 2nds
_______________________________________________________ 23rd Sept Jed-Forest 21 - 19 GHA On a brilliant sunny day Jed were playing against the wind in the first half but we were controlling the game. Clark Laidlaw opened the scoring when he barged over from short range in the cop end corner following umpteen fazes of drives and rucks near the GHA line. Gary McGarva kicked a great touch line conversion. We were competing brilliantly all over the park and Ross Goody was next to barge over in a similar try to the 1st one after some great forwards drives, McGarva once again kicking a beauty conversion. We went in at half time 14 - 0 up and looked comfortable. Things looked even better when Clark waltzed through 3 tackles and fed Paul Pringle who only had to fall over the line, McGarva made it 3 from 3 conversions and we were 21 - 0 up minutes into the 2nd half. This seemed to open up the game and GHA took advantage and scored pretty much straight away. David MacLeod was then sin binned for tackling the dangerous scrum half to early when he took a quick tap penalty. This really hurt us and GHA scored 2 quick tries, only converting one. The second after another aimless kick was collected by their winger near his 22 who chipped over the advancing Jed backs, he collected the ball and neat side step saw him cut inside for a brilliant try. This left us hanging on by 2 points for the last 20 minutes of the game but the return to 15 men when David MacLeod was reinstated proved crucial. Nicky Bates also returned after being given a short break and that really secured the scrum and tightened the spaces that GHA had been finding. "Another win on board after a really impressive 1st half, but straying from the game plan and some loose aimless kicks put us under unnecessary pressure and nearly cost us dearly" said coach Kevin Armstrong. Today's man of the match for a power packed display was Ali Hall closely followed by David MacLeod who battled really hard and played against doctors orders with a serious injury and Hendy who was his usual consistent self, despite only returning to Edinburgh at 11am from a weeks work in Poland.
Jed 2nds 22 - 12 Melrose 2nds A great day for rugby and with a couple of lads back from injury Jed dominated this match and ran out worthy winners against an experienced Melrose side. Jed scored early on after a piece of sustained play the ball was whisked along to Elder who powered over in the corner. Elliot extended the home teams lead with 3 penalties for a HT score of 14 - 0. 20 mins into the second half Jed again pressed hard and Elder scored a great individual try after a typical dummy as he raced into the corner. Pressing for the bonus point a backs move was broken down by a blatant knock on but the ref waved play on while the winger raced the full length. Jed responded with a Hastie drop goal but Melrose had their dander up now and scored again when the winger darted in from an overlap. Jed then made sure of the points by playing remaining mins camped in the Melrose half. Jed thoroughly deserved this win as their structured game and great defence set up this top of the league win. Another massive game this week at Selkirk who will certainly prove a very tough task. Great to see Ross MacDonald back playing after being diagnosed with Diabetes and Paul Hill returned from a rib injury. Robert Hogg once again looked sharp while Burty and Eithy worked very hard. Elder finished off tries very well but this weeks man of the match goes to Billy Graham who tackled and spoiled everything.
____________________________________________________ 16th Sept Biggar 12 - 19 Jed-Forest This was a great result for Jed playing their 3rd Away game in the space of 4 weeks. Biggar is never an easy place to come and take the points but it probably suited us to be taking them on at this time of year especially when it turned out to be such a warm day on Saturday. Jed were also forced to make a change at hooker when Neil Tunnah cried off with his recurring back problem, Michael Graham becoming the third person to wear the No2 jersey in 4 weeks. Jed started the game brightly and McGarva stroked over an early penalty. After about 10 minutes play though Neil Cook had to be replaced, coming off with a broken hand, a real blow as he had already stolen a Biggar throw and it is not a position we are well covered for at the moment. This however did not stop us gaining another kickable penalty for McGarva to double our lead. Biggar then had some better spells of play and only some fine scrambling defence turning them over on a number of occasions. Clark Laidlaw managed to land a neat drop goal after a several attacking phases by the Jed men. Biggar had their chance to get on the scoreboard with a long range effort before half time but failed, however they were given another chance as Jed had been giving the kicker a bit of verbal as he was taking it , but again the chance was missed. The early play in the second half belonged to Biggar as they played for territory and Jed kept giving away kickable penalties which sub Conan Sharman was slotting home with ease. The writing looked on the wall for Jed as Biggar stuck to this very basic game plan and levelled the score at 9-9. Jed then managed to see a bit more of the ball and were able to get through the phases and get their heavier opponents running about again. This led to McGarva getting a chance to put Jed back in front with a long range penalty, which he did with a superbly struck kick. As Biggar pushed hard at Jed they were forced back by some dogged defending by the Jed team and when Hendy turned the ball over in the middle of the park and when Ross Goodfellow launched a quick attack up the blindside James Hogg found himself clear of the Biggar defence with just the full back to beat, he drew the full back with a well timed pass and Goody was on hand to finish off the move and effectively the match when he touched down under the posts for a cracking score to decide the outcome. Biggar still had time to launch another attack at Jed and were able to secure a losing bonus when Sharman kicked another penalty. This result pushes Jed up to 4th in the table but things aren’t getting any easier on the injury front and hopefully Gary Elder will be on the mend with GHA and Edin Accies our next two games , both sides currently above us in the table. There were some fine performances against Biggar with some good tackling and fine handling at times, securing enough good ball is key to the way Jed are playing at the moment and as long we can do that then I’m sure we will give anybody a good run for their money.
Peebles 2nds 0 - 24 Jed-Forest 2nds Against a large experinced home pack who spoiled and disrupted the tight and breakdown areas, Jed found things hard and were at times unable to play their free flowing game. Jed started superbly as Robert Hogg raced through and around the defense
in a great solo try as early as the 4th
_______________________________________________ 9th Sept Jed-Forest 27 - 12 Gala
Jed-Forest 2nds 17 - 7 Berwick 2nds
_____________________________________________________________________ 2nd Sept Hamilton 10 - 11 Jed-Forest
Kelso 2nds 3 - 28 Jed-Forest 2nds
________________________________________ 26th Aug Stew Mel 18 - 12 Jed-Forest Jed suffered an agonising defeat in their first league match of the season when Stew Mel cashed in on unfortunate mix up at the back to score a fluke of a try with the last play of the game in the seventh minute of injury time, when Jed looked to be taking home the points with a 12-11 lead. The game started well enough with two well struck penalties from McGarva putting us 6-0 ahead. Stew Mel cut the margin to 6-3 after some sustained pressure but Jed came back and when a blatant infringement stopped a promising attack, another McGarva penalty put us 9-3 ahead. This was short lived when the Jed pack made a hash of the restart which ended up with 3 points from a soft penalty to make it 9-6 at the break. Jed started well in the second half and a fine break from Lightbody looked as though it may have produced a score but it wasn’t to be. Stew Mel then found some spaces to launch an assault in the Jed 22’. Unfortunately Jed were penalised for coming in at the side of a ruck and the ref sin binned Roy McFarlane for the infringement but he was not the guilty player. Stew Mel went for the try with their numerical advantage but the Jed line held firm and cleared play up to their 10m line. Jed looked to be clearing the danger but when Jed prop Paul “badger” Thomson retaliated at the breakdown he was shown a yellow card to put us down to 13 men. Stew Mel knew this was their chance and as they hammered away at the Jed line they eventually found their way through after some heroic defending by the Jed men. Jed were not finished though and with a full compliment of players went on the attack again and with about 10 minutes to go Clark Laidlaw slotted a peach of a drop goal to reclaim the lead. As you would expect the home side threw everything at us again but we looked to be holding out for a great result as the injury time kept going, however with time for one last scrum on the Jed 22 the Stew Mel stand off put a teasing kick into the corner which took a nasty bounce and when James Hogg miss kicked the ball it rebounded off Neil Smail the ball eventually broke for one of the Stew Mel players to gladly stroll in under the posts and leave the Jed side absolutely gutted as the final whistle blew. So near yet so far was the cry but the effort certainly could not be faulted but there is plenty to work on at the set piece and the restarts were pretty woeful. Defensively it was a great performance but more ball is required to really get the attack asking more questions but this was a decent outfit we were up against. A lot of good performances on display especially from most of the senior players.
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