Gala 13 Melrose 19

With the floodlights on from the start this BT Cellnet Cup match was played in cold damp conditions and on a very greasy pitch. Melrose opened the scoring with a Scott Ruthven penalty at 4 minutes, a feat he repeated at 21 minutes. Two minutes after this Melrose took a quick penalty on the Gala 10m line on the left, the ball was spread right across the pitch and Geoff Caldwell dived in on the right corner for a try. At 37 minutes Andrew McLean opened the Gala account by kicking a penalty.
Half time - Gala 3 Melrose 11
Two minutes into the second half McLean kicked his second penalty, but this was cancelled out three minutes later when Ruthven kicked his third penalty. At 56 minutes flanker Jamie Murray finished a fine handling move scoring a try in the right corner to increase the Melrose lead. Five minutes later McLean scored a try between the posts, he himself converting. Although there was no scoring in the final quarter the crowd was kept on its toes and the game ended with the Gala pack camped out on the Melrose line, but the Melrose defence held firm to gain a match in the next round away to Boroughmuir on 27th February.