Boroughmuir Bears 40-28 Southern Knights: Knights head coach Bruce Ruthven disappointed with first half but encouraged by second half fightback

Douglas, 18, on as a replacement for the final half hour, brilliantly sprinted home from his own half to score with just three minutes remaining before Cammy Scott added the extras.

Despite the loss, Douglas’s display provided an undoubted positive for Knights head coach Bruce Ruthven.

Ruthven told The Southern Reporter: “It shows we can play some really good rugby.

"That try that Finn scored, I was really delighted for him personally because he’s had five months out with injuries.

"He’s a young player, he’s just picked up a Stage Three contract with Edinburgh so he’s got a lot of ambition with his own game and he’s been training well.

"He led the way in that second half with his commitment and attitude.

"He’s a guy who will certainly start for us this week because it is deserved.”

Bears hit the front early on against Knights last weekend when Jack Fisher’s try was converted by Jack Bergin after nine minutes.

It was 14-0 after 25 minutes when Callum Ramm’s try was followed by Bergin adding the extras with his boot.

And Knights’ task got even harder when a third score for the hosts by Scott Robeson was again converted by Bergin.

Trailing 21-0 at half-time, things got even more bleak for the away team when Joe Jenkins secured a bonus point try, with the conversion unsuccessful this time.

On the 50-minute mark it became 33-0, Bergin again doing the necessary with the boot after Corey Tait had gone over.

There was some cheer for the Melrose side when Allan Ferrie scored a 58th minute try and Scott was successful with his boot to make it 33-7.

Within five minutes, further respectability was added to the score when Douglas Crawford’s try was again converted by Scott.

But the gap in the home team’s favour was increased to 26 points when Bears’ Jerry Blyth Lafferty went over and Bergin slotted over for 40-14.

Knights kept plugging away and Fraser Renwick scored a try which was followed by Scott again doing the necessary, before the late cheer provided by Douglas’s converted try.

"We were pretty disappointed with how the game went,” Ruthven said. "First 40 minutes we just never got out the blocks.

"We had had a good training week and the guys knew what we had to do. We talked about fronting up, which a Borders team typically prides itself on but we let ourselves down in that aspect.

"Technically and tactically there is not much between the two teams. It comes down to more of a want and a will and that was certainly missing in the first half.

"Boroughmuir to be fair to them played really well. We just struggled at the setpiece, struggled to win our lineout and scrum ball and were kind of on the back foot for those first 40 minutes.

"But in the last 40 minutes it was kind of night and day, that old cliche a game of two halves.

"We played really well in the second half. We had a bit more ball, started to be a bit more fluent in how we played and scored four really good tries.”

Knights, fifth in the table with five points from four games, entertain Ayrshire Bulls this Saturday in a Super 6 match which kicks off at 1pm.

Ruthven said: “If we don’t front up from the start it will be a long afternoon coming.

"We do typically train pretty well although sometimes accuracy is missing at times. The mindset has got to be there from the word go.

"We have to be ready from the start otherwise we will be blown away if we play like we did on Saturday.

"We’ve got 14 players unavailable this week. So it doesn’t leave any room at all for chopping and changing, picking people on merit.

"I basically pick who’s fit at the moment.

"The average age of our squad is 21 last weekend and it won’t be too different this weekend coming.”