'We played well enough to win' - Southern Knights head coach Bruce Ruthven hails two-try Rudi Brown after home loss to Heriot's

Scotland under-20 international and former Melrose youth player Brown, 18, touched down for the hosts in each half, and other points came via a first-half try by Aidan Cross and three David Colvine conversions.

The 18-year-old was among a four-strong Edinburgh contingent helping out the Borderers along with front-rowers Jamie Jack and Luan de Bruin and Melrose-born scrum-half Charlie Shiel.

Their input wasn’t enough to avert a 31-21 defeat at the Greenyards in Melrose, however, and it leaves the Knights second bottom of the table with only one win and five points from the handful of games they’ve played thus far.

Knights head coach Bruce Ruthven praised Brown’s performance, saying: “It was Rudi’s first game back after an under-20s lay-off. These guys get several weeks off after their involvement in international level just to refresh and recharge and go away and do a bit of extra training – obviously he’s contracted to Edinburgh – so he’s come back in and he was the strongest player on the park on Friday night.

“He carried ball really well, moved well around the park and he showed that the lay-off has done him the world of good.

“He has come back and is looking really fresh. It was a really strong performance, so we’re really pleased he’s come back and hit the ground running at a time when we need every player fit at the moment.”

Despite Brown lifting spirits, Ruthven said it was a disappointing game overall.

The Borders side led twice in the first half but lost out to the Edinburgh outfit, thanks to tries for Michael Liness at the double, ex-Knight Sam Pecqueur and Bobby Kay, plus four conversions and a penalty by Bruce Houston.

“We feel as if we played well enough to win the match,” Ruthven added. “There were just a couple of lapses in concentration. We didn’t clear our lines, which led to one catch-and-drive try for Heriot’s, and another try was the same after they had kicked a penalty to the corner.

“They didn’t have to work massively hard for their points, especially in that first half.

“We talked all week about how we had to be really well disciplined in our own half because Houston is very good off the tee. He kicks three points from all over the place.

“It was disappointing to concede a penalty in that important time just before half-time.

“We lost the momentum we had and we really struggled to assert ourselves in that first 20 minutes of the second half. That was probably where we lost it in the end.”

Ruthven’s injury-ravaged squad, currently ten players short, visit second-placed Ayrshire Bulls this Saturday, with kick-off at 5pm.

“Our injury situation is tough,” he added. “It’s quite an attritional competition and it makes things slightly more difficult going to Ayr, who are probably one of the stronger teams in the championship.

“We don’t have any professional players released this week either, so potentially it will be a very tough game with the addition that they’ll have pro players available.

“We will work hard this week and take it face on.

“Ayrshire Bulls have a big pack. They’re quite a mature team with quite a few old heads in there, so set-piece-wise, scrum and lineout, they are very strong and they’ll really look to put their dominance in the game through that set-piece as they have a lot of strong ball carriers.

“We will have to be at our very best and really well disciplined to stay in touch with them in that game, but again, we’ve got a lor of players finding their feet just now and starting to play well, so we’ll look forward to going over there this weekend and seeing what we can do.”