MELROSE are already the owners of one trophy this season, having beaten Heriot’s in the Charity Shield, and the way they have been playing suggests they will be serious contenders for another two in the spring. They extended their winning run in the league to four matches on Saturday with a 43-27 victory over Gala, and had the upper hand in the contest throughout.

Stiffer tests await for Robert Chrystie’s side, notably this weekend when they visit Ayr, who are now the only other team with a 100 per cent record in the Premiership following Watsonians’ 48-20 defeat at Glasgow Hawks. And, despite accepting that his team have begun the season with some excellent performances, the Melrose coach expects other clubs to grow stronger over the coming months.

“It’ll get a lot harder, I’m sure, and teams will definitely get better,” Chrystie said. We were quite fortunate in that we had pretty much a full squad to pick from, but now we’re starting to pick up injuries. Other clubs maybe didn’t have full squads to start with.

“The weather will be a leveller, as it always is, when it does come. We’ll go to Ayr and give it a real good crack and see how we get on.”

Melrose took an early lead at Netherdale with a pushover try from a lineout finished off by Russell Anderson, and they only ever looked vulnerable during the second-half spell when Jamie Bhatti was in the bin for a dangerous tackle. They conceded two full scores in that time, but with a 30-point cushion were never really in trouble. Once Bhatti was back on the pitch they soon scored again, and although Gala had the last word through Edinburgh professional Rory Scholes, there was no denying that Melrose were well worthy of the win.

While it is the conditioning of the squad as a whole that has ensured they have begun the season so brightly, one particular highlight has been the form of their own Edinburgh pro, Lewis Carmichael. The 21-year-old lock only signed for Alan Solomons’ side in April, and has so far been allowed to keep turning out for Melrose, as he has done since leaving school. The way he is playing, however, Chrystie believes it is only a matter of time before he is included in the squad for a PRO12 or Challenge Cup match.

“Lewis has grown into a man over the last couple of years. He’s excellent just now. He’s done a lot of hard work and he’s developed over time, and hopefully he’ll get his opportunity with Edinburgh soon.

“They’ve done a great job with him. It’s not just the way he plays, it’s what he does off the pitch as well - the leadership qualities he brings, for example. He brings a lot to the group.”

Carmichael certainly brings a lot of problems to the opposition, in particular his apparently tireless ability to keep driving at them until they buckle. With his loose forwards snaffling a lot of stray ball, Melrose were able to grind Gala down whether in possession or without it. If they had to work hard for their two first-half tries, their second-half scores came that little bit more readily as fatigue took its toll on the Gala ranks, although Chrystie insisted there had not been much of a dangerous between the teams.

“That game definitely wasn’t easy today. What we’re doing is taking our opportunities when they’re there. Other teams are perhaps not taking them.”

His Gala counterpart, Chris Dalgleish, agreed with that analysis. “Our patterns of play are working, and we’ve got some dangerous players there, but we’ve got to be able to get to four, five, six phases to stretch defences. At the moment we’re coughing it up one or two phases in.

“It’s frustrating. We had so many basic errors, and Melrose are too clinical a team to do that against - you can’t give them cheap possession.”

Gala lost some important players over the summer, notably to Watsonians, and were expected by many to struggle. So far, however, with only one win but seven points to their name, they are keeping their heads above water.

Hawick, by contrast, remain winless, having gone down 28-43 to Ayr in a match which saw Finn Russell make a return to competition after four months out with a head injury. The Glasgow stand-off will now come into contention for a place in the Warriors team to play Ulster at home on Friday night.

Currie put some distance between themselves and Hawick at the bottom of the table with a 27-24 win over Stirling County - their first victory of the season. Heriot’s beat Boroughmuir 23-16 to go into the upper half of the league, while Hawks are now leading the chase behind the top two.