Tennent's National League One

MARR RUGBY 45

KELSO RFC 12

A TOM Steven hat-trick helped Marr Rugby’s 1st XV continue their winning run with a bonus point victory against Kelso RFC.

The scoreline doesn’t reflect the effort put into the match by the borderers. They offered stiff defence against relentless Marr attacks and at times posed significant questions of Marr and breached their line twice times during a more evenly balanced second half.

Marr’s starting line-up was bolstered by the return from injury of Mackenzie Pearce.

It took half an hour before the opening score was made. During the first quarter Marr was starting to get into the ascendency specially in set play at scrummage where the front row William Farquhar, Ollie Rossi and Calvin Henderson were giving their opposite numbers a torrid test. Marr were enjoying growing phases of possession but this was countered by a determined defensive effort.

Just before the 30-minute Mark, Marr finally broke through the defensive wall. After being camped near to and pounding Kelso’s line for almost 10 minutes they were rewarded with an unconverted try, scored by Ollie Rossi, who blasted through from close range.

Marr’s second try came five minutes later as Richard Dalgleish pounced on a dropped pass from Kelso and released Gregor Paxton on a counter-attack that saw him sprint 60 metres to score a converted try. This rattled Kelso and they were further put under pressure as Marr finished the half with two further scores, both coming from storming bursts by Tom Steven who swatted away tacklers to make line breaks and race to the try line.

At the start of the second half Tom Steven scored his third as Marr extended the lead. Ben Johnston made a midfield break and as the defence tracked back to tackle him he was able to pass out of the tackle and the ball was spread wide to Tom Steven who was going at full steam and raced 25metres into the corner to score. The rest of the second half was a more evenly balanced affair as Kelso upped their game and refuse to be blown away. Their cause was improved when Marr were reduced for a period to 13 players following two yellow cards. During this period they scored their tries. As the Marr drew to a close Marr completed their scoring with tries from Stephen Adair and a final play score from Conor Bickerstaff.

The win continues Marr’s momentum. Despite the five points their position as league leaders was changed as GHA delivered a thumping 87-3 win against Musselburgh to leapfrog to the top courtesy of the points scored differential.

Marr Rugby 1st XV man of the match – Tom Steven

Meanwhile in Tennent's Reserve National League One, Marr went down 31-19 at home to GHA RFC.

Fixtures, Saturday, October 6: 1s – Away v Aberdeen Grammar; 2s – Away v Heriot’s FC; 3s – Home v Dumfries 2s.