Borders upset Edinburgh title bid
Charlie Hore and Chris Cusiter emerged as the home heroes, the former triumphing in his personal penalty joust with Scotland marksman Chris Paterson and the latter pouncing for the try that mattered.
It was the second Reivers shock victory over their local rivals in nine months and the latest success of Steve Bates’ born-again squad propelled them into the top five, with Edinburgh knocked off top spot by Ulster, who beat Connacht last night.
The sides shared three penalty goals in the first eight minutes, Paterson’s double for Edinburgh coming either side of Hore’s longer range effort for the home brigade.
Reivers kept up the pressure and they forced the Gunners to concede a defensive penalty close to the posts, giving Hore a formality of a kick to level the tussle.
And there was another shock for the capital men in the dying seconds of the half when Hore thumped over his third counter from 45 metres to edge Borders in front for the first time.
The home side continued to look the more urgent outfit and Hore shook his head in frustration as he fluffed a snap drop-goal attempt.
Gunners skipper Paterson was also showing signs of mounting annoyance over the penalty count against his side by pernickety ref Rob Dickson. And his fears grew when Hore slotted two more goals in quick-fire order to open up a useful nine-point gap.
Even better was to come for Borders when they carved out the all-important first touchdown, and it was a personal triumph for Lions scrum-half Cusiter as he won the straight race for the ball with Scotland Test rival Blair. Ally Kellock snatched a late try for Edinburgh, but it was scant consolation.
Borders scorers: Tries: Cusiter. Pens: Hore 6.
BORDERS: Moffat, Danielli, MacDougall, Law, Walker, Hore, Cusiter, Thomson, Ford, McGee, Palepoi, Stewart, Brown, McEntee, Sititi.
Replacements: MacRae for Danielli (74), McKearchar for Cusiter (59), Scott for Ford (52), Cross for McGee (59), Dalziel for Brown (52), Gray for McEntee (52), Rennick for Sititi (79).
Edinburgh scorers: Tries: Kellock. Pens: Paterson 2.
EDINBURGH: Southwell, Paterson, Di Rollo, Dewey, Leonelli Morey, Godman, Blair, Jacobsen, Hall, Smith, Pringle, Murray, Mustchin, Cross, Taylor.
Replacements: Webster for Leonelli Morey (53), Kelly for Hall (58), Hewett for Smith (58), Hogg for Cross (58).
