* SEVEN matches in the McEwan's national league were postponed on

Saturday, including two each in the first and second divisions. The two

in the second were those in which Kelso and Dundee High School FP would

have been pressing on with their promotion bids.

Five of the seven postponements were in the Borders. The only major

game to escape in that district was the top-of the-table contest in

which Melrose beat Gala 28-16 at Netherdale.

Boroughmuir, the national league champions, were unable to play their

Philiphaugh match against Selkirk. The Riverside Park game between

Jed-Forest and Stewart's Melville suffered the same fate, as did Peebles

v Dundee, Kelso v Musselburgh, and Walkerburn v Peebles elsewhere in the

Borders.

Under the tournament regulations the seven postponed games will have

to be rescheduled for December 28, the first available date that is free

from national league fixtures. The Divisions 1 and 2 fixtures, however,

may have to be put back further depending on the national selectors'

calls that day for the B match against Ireland and Scotland A's game

against Spain, both at Murrayfield. The next available Saturday after

that is March 28.