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Gala stole a last minute 13 - 11 win from Jed today despite trailing for 75 minutes of the game. Jed struck early with a well taken overlap try by David Gobby after five minutes but Gala hit back with a clever lineout move to catch Jed napping up the blindside to make it 5 - 5. Jed dominated possession for most of the first half and two Ewan Scott penalties put Jed 11 - 5 in front but some slack tackling let Gala in for a try just before the break to make it 11 - 10 at half time.

Both teams had a player sin binned before half time for fighting and Jed went down to 13 when David Grieve was binned for killing the ball on our line when Gala were pushing for a try. Jed responded brilliantly and some tremendous defending held Gala at bay for a full 10 minutes of attack on our line. The second half was dominated by Gala possession but were were still holding on well until we gave away a penalty in front of the posts 35 yards out with less than a minute left. Gala's Craig Dods handled the pressure well and duly slotted the kick to ruin Jed's day.

A really devastating end result for Jed but on the plus side we have 6 points from two games and are the only team in the league to have 2 bonus points from 2 games.

The 2nd XV started their campaign in Reserve League East Div 1 with a 43 - 0 win against Murrayfield Wanderers 2nds. Mark Burke was the star of the show, scoring 3 tries in his first game of rugby in nearly 10 years. Mark played serious football after leaving School and had spells at Hibs, Hearts & Berwick Rangers before consistent injuries took their toll. Player coach, Paul Cranston scored 2 and the try scoring was completed with tries from Connor Hogg and Jamie McCraw. Ryan Miller kicked 4 conversions.

Jed-Forest will host a charity sports quiz on Wednesday 8^th September at Riverside. We are one of 10 regional heats with the winner of each heat receiving £250 and a free entry into the Grand Final in Glasgow on the 21^st of October, where the winning team will receive £2000 for the club of their choice.

Each heat will be hosted by a rugby celebrity even though it’s not just a rugby quiz. Each team should have 5 players and entry costs £50 per team. The heats start at 7.30pm.

All funds raised are for the rugby charity Hearts and Balls who help injured rugby players nation wide.

Jed's League campaign got of to a flying start this afternoon with a 34 - 25 win at G.H.A. which included a 5 try bonus point. The game was dominated by the wind and G.H.A took advantage of it to lead 20 - 7 at half time. Gregor Young had scored our try.

Jed made 4 changes right after half time and this made an immediate impact and we dominated the rest of the game scoring 4 more tries and a penalty with some really clever tactical kicking and some renewed power in the forwards. Darren Gillespie scored a hat-trick of tries and Gregor Young scored again to add to his first half try. Ewan Scott kicked 3 conversions and a penalty.

A really solid start to the season with the forwards showing a much improved effort from last week. We will need to improve again for the visit of Gala next week who gave Kelso a 44 - 10 hammering at Netherdale today. However another week will give us more time to introduce Alexandru Ovidiu (our new 22 year old Romanian prop) to our codes and systems.

Alexandru arrived late on Thursday night to officially join Jed. He was here for a few days last week and took part in the warm up friendly at Hawick but had to go home to tie up loose ends and prepare for his Scottish adventure. Alexandru made his debut today comes highly rated having played for Romania at all the junior age grades.

On a side note, James Hogg made his 100th competitive appearance for Jed today and Donald Grieve made his 150th.

The 2nds completed their pre season preparations with a friendly against Kelso and went down 19 - 10. Kelso had led 19 - 5 at half time with a wind advantage but Jed kept them out in the second half despite playing the last 10 minutes with 14 men due to a spate of injuries. Connor Hogg and Scott Blackie scored Jed Tries.

Jed's final warm up game before the League starts next weekend ended with a very disappointing 26 - 24 defeat against Musselburgh at Riverside yesterday. Jed were simply out muscled and out fought by the bigger Mussleburgh pack. Slight consolation came from the four tries we scored to Musselburgh's two, but we gave away far to many penalties and their kicker was on fire, slotting 4 penalties and 2 conversions.

We were missing some key forwards and they should be available next week and once again it was good to see young guns Andrew Nagle and Connor Hogg get good game time. Jed's tries were scored by Ewan Scott, Chris Laidlaw, Gregor Young and Paul Hill. Ewan kicked 2 conversions.

The 2nds were also in action against Musselburgh but there was some confusion as to whether the game was being played. Jed played with 13 including a winger from Musselburgh and they played with 14 men. They only played 40 minutes and Jed completely dominated, winning 57 - 12.

Ian Chisholm scored 5 tries and kicked 5 coversions, Graeme Slorance (2) Paul Thomson and Garry Ramsey scored Jed's other tries. Ryan Miller added a conversion.

Jed's pre season stepped up a notch with a friendly defeat at Hawick last night. The 46 - 5 final score was a bit flattering for Hawick as Jed had held them at only 7 - 0 for one and a half of the three 30 minute sessions. Hawick had brought their big guns (including the returning Rory Hutton and Stuart Hogg) back on for the last session and we were a bit over run after making several changes.

Scott Laidlaw scored Jed's try and it was great to see Connor Hogg and Andrew Nagle get on for a taste of first team rugby so soon after their summer move from Jed Thistle. Jed's Romanian trialist prop also got some game time and he looks a strong laddie, time will tell though.

Former Jed-Forest and Border League President, John Davidson has been elected to join the Scottish Rugby Board at this years AGM. John has risen rapidly through the ranks at the SRU after joining the Scottish Rugby Council as Premier Division 2 representative at the start of the 2008-2009 season. John has already started in his new role which will last until the end of season 2012-2013.

The Scottish Rugby Board is responsible for the ongoing management of Scottish Rugby. The Scottish Rugby Board, which also serves as the Board of SRU plc, comprises four non-executive Directors, four representatives of the Scottish Rugby Council and up to four executive Directors. The full board of Directors can be seen here.

10th Aug Borders Rugby Television Announce New Sponsor And Re-Launch Website

Borders Rugby Television goes into its third season covering local rugby by announcing a brand new sponsor for the next 12 months in Galashiels-based Fraser James Partnership Ltd, the independent financial advisers whose slogan is "Money Matters."

Managing Director Fraser Brydon has always been a big supporter of Borders Rugby including their sponsorship of Gala Rugby Club and he's delighted to be involved with BRTV which provides TV and radio coverage for rugby in the area as well as a full online web service for Borders Rugby.

Fraser said: "My company is very happy to get involved with Borders Rugby Television. It provides a fantastic service for local clubs and the only place to go to catch up with the very latest news online. We particularly like the fact that the website is constantly updated which encourages users to return time and time again, and you can be assured that when a news story breaks in the Borders it will be available at BordersRugby.net very quickly, and the hours of video footage available is a massive bonus."

Stuart Cameron of Borders Rugby TV welcomed his new sponsor. "Fraser is a larger than life character who I am thrilled to be working with. His passion for local rugby is legendary and his company's involvement will allow us to put even more back into promoting the game at local level.

"I would also like to thank our previous backers, 'The Scarf Shop, Bags, Beads & Beyond' who have been wonderful to us and local rugby over the past two years and will no doubt be involved again in the future. Border Insurance Services of Kelso and BASE Rugby are our two other key sponsors this season, and we're thrilled to have them."

Viewings of BRTV video programmes have topped 275,000 collectively proving there is a big audience for Borders Rugby both in the area and abroad too as many ex Borderers click online to catch up with news.
Part of the success of BRTV has been the co-operation with other local media including media partners Radio Borders and you can be certain that whatever happens this season it will be covered comprehensively by BRTV's service. The re-launched easier-to-use website is available now at www.BordersRugby.net with extra features including the new Borders Rugby Radio service and the upgraded news pages as well as match highlights and weekly Borders Rugby Roundup TV and Radio programmes.

Following last Thursdays AGM, Jed has announced a shake up of the Rugby section at Jed-Forest RFC.

Roy Laidlaw has stepped down from the role as Director of Rugby, in fact that role has been re named and Billy Grieve will now become Jed's Convener of Rugby. Billy is an ex Jed Captain and has just finished a prolonged stint as President of Jed Thistle. Billy will oversee a rugby committee of Alistair Campbell, Donald Miller and Glen Gibson.

Darren Cunningham will once again be head coach and Kevin Amos will once again assist with the backs training. James Henderson will start his coaching training and will assist with the forwards. Paul Cranston and Brain Law are 2nds coaches.

Ross Goodfellow will captain Jed and Neil Cook will be vice captain. Disappointingly last years captain, Gary Holborn has decided to step up a division and join Melrose. Fellow Berwick man Paul Pringle has retired after 2 stints at Jed. A great piece of news sees the return of David Grieve from a season at Selkirk.

Finally, Kevin Barrie has been appointed as Jed's new Youth Development Officer. As well as having responsibility for the U13s/U16s Kevin has been asked to bring on young coaches like Amo and Hendy.