Melrose head coach John Dalziel believes his side are getting close to the form that saw them win the top- flight title last season after they eased past Boroughmuir 37-10 yesterday.

The result leaves the men from The Greenyards third in the BT Premiership table and well on track for a top four play-off place.

Key to the win was the dominance of the pack, while Edinburgh Rugby pro Sean Kennedy was dangerous from scrum-half and led the backline well.

Scoring 10 points while they had a man in the sin-bin was also crucial, allowing them to go into the break 13-3 up and then play with more width in the second half.

Dalziel said: "We had to work hard for our points in the first half, but after the interval I thought we played some great rugby. We have one more league game to go before the Christmas break and we want to kick on and make sure that we guarantee a top-four spot."

The visitors took the lead at Meggetland in the third minute thanks to a Joe Helps penalty before Chris Laidlaw missed two chances to score one for Boroughmuir, the second kick hitting the post.

In the 15th minute, Laidlaw did level things up with a penalty after Ewan McQuillin had been sin-binned for Melrose.

During that spell, with 14 men, a second Helps penalty was augmented by a converted try from Kennedy. With Boroughmuir's Sep Visser now in the sin-bin, Melrose added a second try in the 47th minute when Andrew Nagle went over. Two minutes later Tito Mua scored a converted effort and it was 25-3.

Melrose secured the bonus point after 58 minutes when Bruce Colvine grabbed their fourth try and Helps then got their fifth.

A late consolation try came from Cal Davies for Boroughmuir, but they are still second bottom.

At Raeburn Place, bottom side Edinburgh Accies gave themselves a lifeline as they dug in to defeat Currie 18-15. Jack Marples ran in two tries for the home side with Robin Snape adding another and Alex Glashan kicking a penalty. Currie captain Ross Weston ran in two tries, but it was not enough.

Heriot's returned to the top of the table after they won and Ayr lost. The Edinburgh club defeated Stirling County 29-14 at Bridgehaugh with tries from Max Learmonth, Nathan Borel, Graham Wilson and Jono Armstrong. Wilson added nine points with the boot.

At Mansfield Park, Hawick did the double over Ayr. Tries by captain Rory Hutton and Scott McLeod along with seven points from the boot of Jack Cuthbert put Hawick 17-0 up and after John Coutts' converted try they were 24-0 to the good.

Cuthbert added another penalty and although Ayr fought back it finished 27-22.

Gala's poor form continued with a fifth loss in a row, Glasgow Hawks defeating them 16-13 at Old Anniesland.