Southern Knights’ Fosroc Super Series Championship play-off hopes all but dashed by Stirling Wolves

​That result leaves Wolves in possession of fourth place in the table, on 28 points from 11 fixtures with one round left to go, and head coach Alan Tait’s Knights three points behind them in fifth place.

That means the Borderers’ prospects of progressing to the play-offs are reliant not only on them beating table-toppers Heriot’s at home at Melrose’s Greenyards this Friday but also on Wolves slipping up away to Boroughmuir Bears on Saturday.

One factor in their favour, besides home advantage, is that Friday’s game is a dead rubber for Heriot’s, the Edinburgh outfit being three points clear at the top of the table, with 50 points from 11 matches, and second-placed Ayrshire Bulls, on 47, having already concluded their regular season.

Going against them, though, is the fact that second-bottom Bears also have little to play for this weekend but pride as they can’t catch up with Knights, being 13 points adrift of them with two games to play, and even if they lose at home to Wolves, they could still avoid the competition’s wooden spoon by seeing off the Fosroc Future XV, currently propping up the table without any points from ten games, next Friday, November 10.

What is potentially Knights’ last game of the season – unless a last-four tie against Heriot’s follows a week later – kicks off at 7.35pm this Friday and it’s being broadcast live on BBC Alba and BBC iPlayer.

Looking ahead to Heriot’s visit, Tait, 59, said his side will be hoping to go one better than they did in the reverse fixture in the capital in September, having been edged out 38-34 when victory looked to be theirs for the taking.

“It could be our last game of this campaign, depending on what we do and then what Stirling do, but what Stirling do is out of our hands, so we just need to concentrate on what we can do,” he said.

“Heriot’s are a good side and they’ve got a lot of quality players. We’ll take a lot of confidence from when we went up there as we should have beat them and they’ll know that, but we’re still facing the side that are going into the semi-finals as favourites and league leaders.

“It’s going to be tough for our guys but it’s a challenge we’re really looking forward to. Hopefully we’ll put on a good show.”

Winger Aidan Cross scored two tries for Knights at Bridgehaugh Park last week and replacement hooker Luke Thompson touched down their other, with fly-half and captain Gregor McNeish adding a penalty and replacement fly-half Harris Rutherford a conversion.

Flanker Ruaridh Knott and full-back Glenn Bryce both scored tries at the double for a home side featuring former Knights Craig Jackson and Ben Afshar and ex-Gala tighthead prop Marius Tamosaitis and centre Ryan Southern touched down their other, with Marcus Holden adding four conversions and a penalty.

Reviewing that game, Tait added: “It was disappointing as our preparation was really good through the week.

“We’d built it up, as you’ve got to do with these things. We put a lot of emphasis on how important it was and that it could get us to a semi-final for the first time in a while.

“The boys started really well. For the first ten minutes, we were doing exactly what we’d talked about and then we had a 20-minute spell when we fell off tackles and didn’t play the right field positions.

“We didn’t front up for that 20 minutes and they got four tries – pretty soft tries, to be honest – but the second half was equal. We got two tries and should probably have had three.

“We’re not the best team on a heavy pitch – we’ve got to put our hands up for that – and that’s probably just down to experience.

“Craig Jackson, for them, knew exactly how to play the pitch but we tried to throw the ball about too much in wet and muddy conditions.

“It was a big game for Stirling as well as they were fighting for their lives. If they’d got beaten, that was them out.”