Scottish made a number of changes to their starting line out, with Stuart Peel coming in at centre, replacing the cup tied Charles Hayter and Jamie Sole taking over on the wing from Ryan Western, who was also cup tied through a previous outing with the Cornish Pirates in the competition. In the forwards, Craig McGrath made his first start of the season at hooker after recovering from injury, which has kept him out of the side. Scottish also rested their Argentine internationalists.

Melrose kicked off playing towards the park end of the ground on an overcast but cold winters day, however they failed to reach the 10 metre line with their kick off. At the first scrum Scottish achieved a significant shove, but knocked on at the subsequent play. Melrose took a quick penalty just outside the Scottish 22 metre on the 3rd minute, but the attack petered out after they were penalised for holding onto the ball at the ruck.

Scottish opened the scoring on the 8th minute when centre Stuart Peel took the ball just outside the Melrose 22 metre and waltzed through the Melrose defence to touch down to the right of the posts. Fly half Dan Mugford added the extras to put Scottish 7 - 0 ahead. Melrose in the following phases of play began to put the Scottish defence under pressure and eventually got back into the game on the 15th minute when the Melrose fly half Scott Wight charged down a Mugford clearing kick in the Scottish 22 metre area. Wight collected his charge down and scored underneath the Scottish posts. Wight converted his own try to bring the scores level. Scottish took the lead again on 19th minute when Melrose were penalised at the ruck on their own 10 metre line. Mugford made up for his earlier error by coolly slotting over the penalty.

On the 20th minute winger Tim Holgate hacked the ball through behind the Melrose defence, however Scottish were unable to capitalise and Melrose relieved the pressure with a kick to touch on their 22 metre line. From the line out Scottish caught and the forwards drove towards the Melrose try line. The ball was re-cycled a number of times before being held up short of the try line. Scottish then switched play through their backs with the ball being fed out to centre Ben McDougall who broke through the Melrose back line and off loaded to full back Oli Grove to score in the corner. Mugford missed a difficult conversion attempt, but Scottish were now well and truly in the driving seat. The Melrose side were clearly frustrated with the pressure being exerted by Scottish. They were marched back ten metres when one of their players spoke out of turn.

Scottish nearly increased their lead on the half hour mark when McDougall again broke through the Melrose defence down the Scottish left flank. He passed onto winger Jamie Sole who was on close support, but was forced into touch just short of the try line by the covering Melrose defence. In the closing stages of the half, Melrose were penalised on a number occasions and the penalty count was racking up for the visitors. Scottish finished off the half camped in the Melrose half of the pitch and just before the whistle the visitors were yet again penalised for not rolling away at the ruck. Mugford pulled his penalty conversion attempt to the left of the posts, leaving a half time score of 15 - 7.

Scottish opened the second half on the ascendancy and increased their lead on the 42nd minute of the match when Melrose were penalised for holding onto the ball at the ruck. Grove took the conversion attempt from just inside the Melrose 10 metre line and the ball soared between the posts. The Scottish number 8 Willie Lipp was yellow carded on the 50th minute for deliberately killing the ball at a ruck, however the visitors were unable to exploit their player advantage. On the 55th minute, Melrose were penalised for crossing just outside their 22 metre area and Scottish kicked to the corner and from the subsequent line out set up a series of rolling mauls. Replacement front row forward Richard Ferguson was yellow carded, following a serious of offences by the opposition. Scottish opted to take a 5 metre scrum and drove their opponents over the try line beneath the posts with flanker James Kellard scoring the try. Mugford converted to put Scottish in a commanding 25 - 7 lead.

Melrose scored their second try of the match on the 68th minute when they produced a series of good moves which saw the ball being eventually fed out to winger Allan Dodds who joined the line creating the overlap. He cut through the Scottish defence to score out wide. Wight missed the conversion attempt. Scottish finished off the scoring shortly before the referee blew for full time when they were awarded a penalty when the Melrose were penalised at a scrum in their 22 metre area. Mugford converted to leave the final score of 28 - 12 to Scottish.

A comprehensive, but a hard earned victory by the home side in the "Battle of the Jocks". Scottish can take great heart and confidence from this win as they now move onto their Boxing Day away Championship fixture against Moseley and their New Years day away at Leeds. Many thanks to all from Melrose who made the trip down to Scottish for the game and have a safe journey home. Haste ye back. Look out for the Moseley match preview later in the week and wishing all Scottish supporters where ever in the world you may be reading this match report a very Happy Christmas and a prosperous New Year.

Alex McKenzie was awarded the First Cape sponsored Man of the Match award.