Melrose produced their best form in the final 10 minutes, and then against 13 men at one time. But it was too little too late and they had to settle for two losing bonus points.

Four tries were very commendable, and they almost snatched a win, which would not really have been deserved, in injury time.

Even with Andy Rose and Charlie Purdon in the sin-bin, the Boroughmuir defence found new depths of resilience to deny the late Melrose onslaught.

It was a defeat that frustrated and shocked former Melrose captain, Graeme Dodds, who watched the game from the stand due to a calf injury.

“It was difficult and frustrating to watch. The guys were excellent in the last 10 minutes, but we 'coughed’ the ball up too many times and were fighting a losing battle,” he said.

“We just could not get any structures. It should not take us to be down 17 points before sparking into life.” Melrose has taken time to settle with a new-look squad, and the injury to Joe Helps has not helped. But as title-holders, the club is the target for all of the opposition, and on Saturday came off second best.

Boroughmuir coach, Bruce Aitchison, formerly of Gala, watched his players dig deep at the end when down to 13 players. “Some of these lads have never played at The Greenyards and it is testament to our players that they kept digging and digging,” he said.

“Melrose threw everything at our team and the players kept meeting them.” Boroughmuir were boosted by a sterling performance from Edinburgh pro, Cal Bezuidenhout, who scored 16 points from a try, four conversions and a penalty.

They showed their defensive quality near the end with two players in the sin-bin as Melrose clawed their way back from a 14-31 deficit to within five points.

Boroughmuir led 17-14 at the break with tries from Bezuidenhout and Jordan Edmunds to scores from Fraser Thomson, after a break by Tito Mua, and Andrew Nagle, playing at centre, in a move started by Tom Wilson.

The game looked over as Rory Scott and Magnus Bradbury stretched the lead to 31-14 with 15 minutes left, but were left hanging on as Ross Miller barged over and Ruaridh Knott scored in a grandstand finale.

Richard Mill kicked three conversions, but Melrose had to settle for two losing bonus points.

But as Aitchison warned: “It is going to be a tough league.” Melrose: F. Thomson; A. Lockington, T. Mua, A. Nagle, R. Tolland; R. Mill, T. Wilson; N. Little, T. Pearce, E. McQuillin, S. Johnson, L. Carmichael, N. Irvine-Hess, R. Miller, R. Knott. Replacements: R. Ferguson, C. Arthur, D. Colvine, L. Mallin, R. Taylor.