Melrose 32 - 29 Currie: Melrose make the most of their chances as 14-point turnaround thwarts Currie

IF A good team is one that can win while playing badly then Melrose are champions elect. They didn't play poorly for the first half, they were hopeless, hapless, almost comically useless in much of what they attempted throughout the first 40, not that Craig Chalmers was laughing.

"It wasn't the best performance that we'd had," admitted the Melrose coach after the final whistle. "It was scrappy and nervy game. We made a lot of mistakes, we turned over a lot of ball cheaply and no one was taking responsibility but when we did hold onto the ball we scored points. First game up and you want to emerge with a positive outcome and we managed that.

"The attitude of the boys was the most pleasing aspect. We gave away something like seven penalties to their 12 which was good since we'd talked about discipline, it's let us down in previous seasons. Also the work ethic at the end of the match, we got off the line and denied them a try at the end."

To their credit Melrose did one thing exceptionally well; they took their chances when they came along, offering their opposition a master class in finishing with no one better than Allan Dodds. Just when it looked like the home team were going to disappear altogether under successive Currie tsunamis, the Melrose winger sparked the best try of the match. It was a 14-point turnaround and it probably kept his side in this opening league match.

Dodds did well to get back and tackle a flying Dougie Fife inside the Melrose 22 before leaping to his feet, winning the ball in contact and counter-attacking 70 yards. After doing all the hard work he sent flanker Grant Runciman under the posts. Melrose got their second try in what was their first concerted attack of the half and it didn't arrive until the 35th minute of the match when flanker John Dalziel barrelled his way over from close range.

This brace of tries meant that Melrose were just five points adrift at the break after Matt Scott, Jamie Thompson and Andy McMahon had all touched down for the visitors, although even then Currie were riding their luck a little. Thompson's try could have been wiped off after the touch judge intervened and pointed out that one Currie forward, it looked like Ryan Wilson from the back of the stand, was tap dancing all over the back of the home scrum-half Rob Chrystie. The referee Peter Allan chose to ignore this felony when another whistle-blower might have reached for a yellow card. Then towards the end of the opening half McMahon's try only arrived after a Melrose hand intercepted a pass and knocked the ball back over his own line.

Too many Currie players had an off-day on the opening day and the club now has to cope with the loss of Chris Kinloch and try-scorer Thompson who are shortly heading south to study at universities in England. The decision-making of the half back pairing, Richard Sneddon and Matt Scott, was a little suspect at times and it was a surprise that Ally Donaldson left the experience of Andrew Binikos kicking his heels on the substitute bench until the 65th minute of the match, by which time the momentum of the match had swung Melrose's way thanks to two bits of magic from Fraser Thomson.

The first arrived when Melrose skipper Scott Wight dinked a ball in behind the Currie posts for the fullback to pounce upon, and Thomson showed his pace for the second, charging into the line and leaving everyone grasping at thin air as he touched down in the right-hand corner. The classy fullback was supposed to be sidelined for another month following a shoulder operation. Goodness knows what he'll be like when he's back to full fitness and heaven help the opposition if Melrose ever get their act together and play for the full 80 minutes.

Scorers: Melrose: Tries: Runciman, Dalziel, Thomson 2. Cons: Wight 3. Pen: Wight 2. Currie: Tries: M Scott, Thompson, McMahon, Entwhistle. Cons: Abercrombie 3, Pen: Abercrombie.

Melrose: Thomson, Anderson, Murray, Jackson, Dodds; Wight, Chrystie, Little, Ferguson, Holburn, Dodds, Elder, Dalziel, Runciman, Miller.Subs: W Mitchell, Cooney, H Mitchell, McCormick, Allan.

Currie: Abercrombie, Kinloch, Johnstone, McMahon, Fife; M Scott, Sneddon; Cox, J Scott, Hamilton, Wilson, Adam, Thompson, Entwhistle, Weston. Subs: Clark, Scobie, Temple, Binikos, Smith.

Referee: P Allan.