Last-gasp tries from Andrew Skeen and Andrew Nagle helped reigning champions Melrose come from behind to defeat Stirling County 24-15 at Bridgehaugh on the opening day of the RBS Premiership season.
The home side were leading 15-12 with 69 minutes played, second-row Craig Deacons having scored two tries and centre Brian Archibald kicking five points to Melrose's two tries from full-back Greg White and replacement forward Peter Eccles and a conversion by Skeen.
However, the Borderers showed why they won the title in 2010 and 2011 with the late scores and they were joined in getting off to winning starts by Ayr, Dundee HSFP and Gala.
Ayr's new-look team showed they will be a force to be reckoned with after a 38-22 victory over Boroughmuir.
The visitors' tries came from Scotland club international Scott Sutherland, who grabbed a brace, brothers Kerr and Craig Gossman on their competitive debuts for the club, prop Nick Cox and skipper Calum Forrester.
Boroughmuir's tries in defeat came from hooker Sean Crombie, second-row Greg Scott and captain Andrew Rose.
Dundee HSFP got the better of Aberdeen Grammar at Mayfield, new winger Taylor Paris leading the way with two tries in their 39-24 win. Young stand-off Jack Steele scored a try, four conversions and a penalty with their other tries coming from a penalty try, debutant back-row Mike Stubbs and replacement back Andy Dymock. Grammar bagged tries through Fijian Pecili Nacavumato, his centre partner William Wardlaw and winger Ade Hales.
Gala top the division after their 35-18 home victory against Heriot's. Stand-off Lee Millar started this season as he ended the last in great form, with 15 points coming from his boot.
Euan Dods at No 8 plundered two tries while scrum-half George Graham also crossed. Heriot's points came from tries by Nigerian international second-row CJ Osazuwa and replacement Andrew Scott.
In the final top-flight match Edinburgh Accies battled back from 10 points down to grab a draw against Currie at Malleny Park.
The hosts scored all their points in the first half, an interception try by centre Simeon James being added to by five points from the boot of young Australian stand-off Adam Hinds.
However, Accies came out flying after the break and a try, penalty and conversion from stand-off Ruairidh Bonner had them level at 10-10 after 50 minutes and that was the way things stayed.
Simon Morgan
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article