​One last chance for rugby’s Southern Knights to avoid whitewash

​It’s a fifth-place play-off at Meggetland in Edinburgh, with kick-off at 3pm, the Melrose-based team having ended up bottom of the competition’s leaderboard, with one point from six fixtures, and their hosts fifth, on 12.

Knights’ last match of the regular part of the campaign was a 33-19 defeat at home to Boroughmuir at the Greenyards on Saturday, their sixth loss on the bounce.

Touching down for an injury-ravaged Knights side, also awarded a penalty try, were Finn Douglas and Callum Davidson, with Callum Grieve adding a conversion.

Bears’ tries were scored by Arthur Allen at the double, Brodie Young, Mason Cullen and Callum Ramm, with Tom Quinlan adding four conversions.

So acute were Knights head coach Alan Tait’s injury issues ahead of the weekend that he could only muster a squad of 22, triggering a Scottish Rugby Union dispensation to borrow Heriot’s centre Zak Smith to enable him to name a starting XV and the eight replacements required.

Putting a brave face on the Knights’ woes this campaign, Tait insisted the current campaign had panned out much as he’d expected it to for his side and fellow Borderer Graham Shiel’s Bears.

“We’re the two sides with the youngest squads by a fair bit, but our last two games are a chance for our youngsters to play against each other, which is always a g ood thing, especially for the Scottish age-grade rugby set-up as it gets their lads out on the pitch and playing against each other,” he said.

“We don’t get onto the lads about winning all the time. It’s about performances.

“We know we’re not going to win the championship or whatever because Watsonians and Ayrshre Bulls are so far in front, but we want to be competitive and we want to keep improving.”