Kelso RFC (26) vs Whitecraigs RFC (0) - RBS Premier 2 - Stage 1

Pre-Match Report

Coming Soon…

Match Report

On a beautiful November day, Kelso entertained Whitecraigs who were making their first visit toPoynderParkas newcomers to the league. Whitecraigs made an encouraging start but before there was even a scrum awarded they lost their tight head prop to an injured shoulder. An early line out steal produced the type of ball Kelso needed for their rampaging forwards to drive at the visitors’ line and for Stuart Lowrie to burrow over for yet another try at the posts. Greg Ponton converted to give Kelso the perfect start after 5 minutes. 

Mark Chester’s inch perfect kick into Whitecraigs’ 22 led to another line out steal. Good continuity play by backs and forwards in unison allowed Stef Carnegie to romp in near the posts for a second Kelso try. Again, Ponton converted to put Kelso 14-0 clear after only 13 minutes. 

Kelso were clearly dominating the game and were in control at the set piece area especially in the line outs where they put so much pressure on the Whitecraigs’ throw as well as securing their own ball. 

Whitecraigs had an opportunity to get on the scoreboard after Kelso were caught offside. Full back, Stephen Gillies, missed the penalty attempt and shortly after, Kelso increased their lead after great interplay between backs and forwards alike. Strong drives by Stuart Lowrie and Gareth Riddell took the ball into the danger zone and Gregg Minto dived over in the corner. Ponton hit the post with the conversion attempt and missed a penalty shortly before half time when Whitecraigs were caught offside. 

So, half time came along with Kelso 19-0 ahead and cruising. The only disappointment was the fact that they had conceded 5 penalties. 

Strangely, the second half commenced with uncontested scrums. This was a surprise as Whitecraigs seemed to packing with the same props as at the end of the first half. However, the game became very scrappy and it was hard to make up for any handling mistakes as it was impossible to win scrum ball against the head. Kelso suffered from this as they had been dominant in this aspect of the game in the first half. 

The bonus point try duly came along and it was well worth the admission money as we saw the Kelso forwards in full throttle with Donald Seed, Stef Carnegie and Gareth Riddell charging up the stand side before Gareth fed his brother Chris to storm over at the posts to make the conversion easy for Ponton. 

That ended the scoring at 26-0 but Ponton had another two penalty attempts for firstly backchat and then for a high tackle. Both were unsuccessful but it was a good win for Kelso to take them into the top half of the league and a decent place in Group C after the league split. It is pretty tight at the bottom end of the league but with points being carried over to Group C, every point is vital.