As the Philiphaugh side stretched their unbeaten run to 10 games in BT National League One with a win over Peebles at the weekend, he claimed new Head Coach Peter Wright deserved all the credit.

However, as temperatures begin to plummet, the former Scotland star - a Past President at Selkirk - warned the winter weather could hamper the league leaders free-flowing playing style.

Rutherford said: “We’re all amazed. Nobody in the club saw this happening.

“We lost 22 players at the end of last season and we did try to bring players in, the only significant one was Keiran Cooney but he’s done a great job, not only as our Development Officer but also holding up the scrum. But I think the most significant addition has been Peter Wright.

“I think Peter’s doing a great job. We’ve always had good coaches but Peter has managed to sort out our set piece.

“Selkirk have always had good rugby players and struggled at set piece but once we got that right they are playing really good rugby.” Selkirk’s success has been all the more remarkable this season by the fact they have had to cope without skipper Andrew Renwick who suffered a leg injury in the home win against Watsonians. He has been ruled out of action until February.

Rutherford said: “We keep saying when is the bubble going to burst but they keep doing it.” Nevertheless, he added: “We are very aware of the bad weather coming in, because they are such a top of the ground team and injuries, and we don’t have huge reserve strength so it’s going to be tough.

“At the moment we are missing our captain, Andrew Renwick - he is out until February; Gav Craig is out until February as well; Scott Hendrie we’re hoping we will get back soon.” Rutherford, who also played for the British Lions, revealed Selkirk were “surprised” Peebles let Wright go at the end of last season.

But, with previous coaches Iain Paxton and Ally Dickson announcing their decision to stand down, he pointed out it was the perfect match.

Rutherford said: “We really hoped that Iain Paxton and Ally Dickson would stay on but Ally had a new family and Iain was 58 and quite keen to get out of rugby, and we completely understood that.

“Peter became available, we were suprised Peebles let him go, we made contact with him. He is still very ambitious, that appealed to us, and he has a lot of experience.

“He’s probably got a reputation of being a conservative type but he has given the lads freedom to play. Things might change as the weather gets worse but you never know. He is very popular and well respected at the club.” Selkirk’s push for the Premiership is put on hold this weekend as they travel to Glasgow to tackle promotion rivals GHA in the second round of the BT Cup.

Elsewhere in the competition, Peebles are away to Musselburgh, Hawick meet Marr, Kelso are at home to Preston Lodge, Jed-Forest are away to Edinburgh Accies, and Hawick YM are at home to Lasswade.