A growing sense of trepidation at Mayfield instead turned into renewed confidence as a result of Dundee HSFP’s third successive home victory on Saturday, and unquestionably the best of the RBS National League campaign so far.
Kelso arrived at Mayfield confident and even expectant clearly so, given their coaching’s team’s frustrated fury at a number of marginal decisions of a fourth win out of four but instead left without anything, beaten 21-12 by a home team that’s learning lessons and playing smart, heads-up rugby.
It’s what’s necessary for a stretch of games that will see High play the other three sides in the top four places in the division, and where periods of dominance in a game will probably fluctuate wildly.
Last week at Boroughmuir it happened as well and High didn’t remotely make the most of their spells in control, but it was very different in the glorious late summer sunshine on Saturday.
Less a game of two halves than one of a beginning (Kelso on top), a middle (High in control) and an end (Kelso back on top again), the 21-0 scoreline with 15 minutes to go spoke volumes to which side had been more clinical.
It was a much more savvy performance, both on the field with some aggressive defence taking them through an early spell without damage where Kelso camped in the home 22, to off the field, where head coach Colin Robertson juggled his resources.
The new man was forced to gamble a little with selection in keeping skipper Alan Brown on the bench until half-time, and also with a shuffle of his back-row, but both came up trumps.
“Broonie’s played every minute of the first three games with Gav Robertson injured and we have to look after him,” was Robertson’s reasoning. “It was always our plan to have him come on at half-time and to be 14-0 up then was ideal.”
A makeshift scrum had been in bother in the first half but that was minimised by switching Danny Levison to No 8, and he had a man of the match performance both in tidying up difficult ball at the base and in attack.
High were also under the cosh in the line-out where Kelso’s impressive beanpole Donald Seed held sway, but they specialise in the third, often forgotten, setpiece. With Levison’s athleticism and Chris Cumming’s awareness, there cannot be a better re-start unit in this division.
“Even though I wasn’t happy with the scrum and we’ll have to have a look at that, I thought that was our best and most coherent performance, and we played some very good stuff in the first half,” added Robertson.
“Kelso are an impressive side and had been going well. It’s been a while since the club had three home wins on the trot and it gives us a good bit of confidence going to Watsonians next week.”
Levison’s superb angle on to a flat pass opened up Kelso for the opening try, Calum Bowie bagging his fourth in as many games. The back rower should have had a try of his own later on but for the referee not spotting he’d grounded the ball before a Kelso defender wrestled it away.
Bryce Hosie had kicked three first half penalties and then finished off Andy Dymock’s smart break from a goal-line scrum just after half-time, when Kelso tried the shove that had been successful in the first 40 only to find that Brown had arrived at the changeover.
Hosie had another bright game but fellow Kiwi Jack Stewart had his best performance since arriving, especially with some telling downfield kicks and one break that might have brought a try. When he limped off with 10 minutes to go, High lost a lot of their shape on both sides of the ball and Kelso were able to bag two late tries.
Watsonians next week completes the rough run through September, and High can settle down playing teams in the other half of what already appears to be a two-tiered division. By the time the return fixtures roll around, the promotion battle should be fully joined.