Jan
14
Saturday saw an unbeaten Kelso side visit Meggetland.
The home side saw various changes from the previous week including the return of veterans Scott Anderson and Billy Blyth to the front row and Stevie Harris to 10 and Liam Mitchell making his bears debut in the back row.
The Bears started strongly with hard running from the forwards consistently breaking the gain line and sniping from Harry Fenton at 9 keeping the Kelso fringe defence honest however a well -organised Kelso backline were starting to make inroads and soon crossed the line.
This was largely the story of the match, Bears winning good ball but unable to get the last pass to hand or support to the man in contact fast enough to recycle ball and Kelso playing some smart rugby to keep the score-board ticking over.
The second half saw more of the same with Kelso scoring some soft tries through defensive dis-organisation but good running from Mitchell and Titch against their former side saw quick ball generated to put Sievewright over in the corner.
The Bears second try came from an excellent break round the fringes from scrum-half Fenton who had been a thorn in Kelso's side all day, tackled just short of the line evergreen prop Scott Anderson was in support to claim his third try of the season, Fenton kicking the conversion.
Final score Bears 12 - Kelso 47.
Man of the Match goes to Liam Mitchell for a powerhouse performance taking a lot of line-out ball and carrying the ball tirelessly against his old club.
Other fine performances from Titch and Andy Clark both putting in superb defence at ruck time and Fenton for marshalling the forwards and exploiting the gaps in Kelso's defence.
Next week sees the Bears travel to Poynder Park for the return leg, knowing that this team has more to deliver than Saturday's score line suggests
