Edinburgh off top spot after defeat

Border Reivers 23 Edinburgh Gunners 11

Bold Borders completed their first three-in-a-row sequence to deliver a shock jolt to the Celtic League title hopes of the pace-setting Edinburgh Gunners.

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.

But the contest was ruined as a spectacle by over-fussy referee Rob Dickson, who refused to let the action flow at any stage.

It was the second shock Reivers victory over their local rivals in the space of nine months and the latest success of Steve Bates’ born-again squad propelled them into the dizzy heights of the top five, with Edinburgh knocked off top spot by Ulster, who beat Connacht tonight.

The opening exchanges were predictably frantic and disjointed with both sides making a spate of errors as they tried to grab the initiative.

And the scrappiness of play was underlined when 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.

Gunners were handed a further opportunity to get vital points on the board for another offside verdict, however this time Paterson was wide.

As the penalty ping-pong continued, Hore suffered the same fate with a 40-metre strike which drifted off-target.

The bulk of the action was confined to the cluttered midfield area until the half-hour mark when the Reivers at last found some cohesion – only to spoil all the good work.

Semo Sititi made the initial surge before Garry Law, Simon Danielli and Wayne McEntee powered deep into enemy territory.

The Borders were looking for a slick recycle from the contact situation – but instead, Edinburgh enefited from a soft turnover and the danger was cleared.

Sititi was back in the spotlight to set up another great chance for Danielli, however this time scrum-half Mikey Bair jumped to the rescue of the visitors as he barged the winger out of play just a couple of paces short of the line.

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 Dickson. And his fears grew when Hore slotted two more goals in quickfire 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.

The rattled Gunners upped the ante in a bid to turn the tide, but a combination of robust defence and panicky mistakes ensured that the Reivers held out with comfort for one of the best results in their troubled history.

Ally Kellock snatched a late try for Edinburgh, but it was scant consolation. And despite Hore’s eventual haul of six penalties, it was no surprise that the sniping Cusiter was named man of the match.