Jenkins scored 24 points in a polished display against a Scottish region who were brave in defeat, although Lynn Howells’ men may rue not getting a bonus point. Jenkins has now kicked an incredible 28 consecutive goals without
missing.
The match was marred by a serious neck injury to Borders fullback Cammie Murray, who was stretchered from the field midway through the second half, but the setback seemed to inspire the Scottish region, who recovered from 3-26 to
24-26 in the final quarter.
Warriors fly-half Jenkins opened the scoring with a fifth-minute penalty goal and repeated the dose in the 12th and 16th minutes as the home side dominated virtually every aspect of the match in the first quarter.
The Borders finally troubled the scorers when centre Gareth Morton converted a simple penalty-goal attempt from in front, but the Warriors hit straight back when Jenkins finished off a lengthy Dafydd James break under the posts. His conversion took the scoreline to Neil Jenkins 16 The Borders 3, and the result became a foregone conclusion.
Borders skipper Kevin Utterson found himself over the Warriors’ try-line in the last minute of the half, but a superb tackle from scrum-half Sililo Martens turned him on to his back and prevented him from dotting down.
Jenkins ended the half with his fourth penalty goal after Borders No 8 Semo Sititi was sin-binned for backchat.
The teams traded tries early in the second half through Warriors winger Richard Mustoe and Borders hooker Steve Scott, but the match ground to a halt on the hour mark when Murray suffered his injury.
The match was stopped for 15 minutes as the Scotland international was carefully stretchered from the field, but it didn’t affect The Borders, who scored through centre Gareth Morton from the resumption of play to narrow the margin to nine points.
A piece of individual brilliance from Tanner Vili set Borders flanker Tony Walker up for a try, and Callum MacRae’s superb sideline conversion suddenly turned the one-sided match into a two-point ballgame.
But Jenkins had the final say and his seventh goal of the evening ended the match.
Scorers: Celtic Warriors: Tries – N Jenkins, R Mustoe; Pens – N Jenkins 5; Con – N Jenkins 2.
The Borders: Tries – S Scott, G Morton, T Walker; Pen – G Morton; Cons – T Vili 2, C MacRae.
Yellow card: S Sititi (The Borders)
