Southern Knights 13

Watsonians 14

David Morrison

at The Greenyards

DEFEAT wasn't going to spoil the party for head coach Rob Chrystie on Saturday.

Although he did lament the number of missed chances his new team wasted to allow Watsonians to snatch a late victory, the mood remained upbeat following the final whistle.

Chrystie said: "We have gone up a level, I'm sure of that, and we can continue improving as a team.

"A lot has gone on here to make today happen and we will continue to all move forward together.

"We had a lot of opportunities today and if we'd got over the line just once or twice more it would have been a completely different result."

There remains a mood of uncertainty about the Super6 at rugby clubs across the Borders.

But for the reasonably large crowd which lined the Greenyards on Saturday, there was agreement that the standard of play has moved up a notch or two.

Despite some impressive carries by both packs, the only scoring in the opening half hour came from two Struan Hutchison penalties.

With Michael Badenhorst sin-binned for the visitors, Knights pummelled the Watsonians' line approaching the break.

But the city side held firm and somehow managed to reach half time only six-points adrift.

A further yellow card for Watsonians after Lewis Berg was dangerously high with his tackle of Patrick Anderson, gave the home team further advantage.

But again the Knights couldn't capitalise despite being camped in the Watsonians half for long periods.

Another yellow card for Jamie Hodgson, as Watsonians were defending under extreme pressure, finally led to a breakthrough.

Hutchison's break was cut short of the line, before the ball was recycled for Michael Mvelase-Julyan to race in at the corner.

Hutchison converted well to give the Southern Knights a healthy 13-0 lead with only 21 minutes remaining.

But the try sparked the visitors into action.

In the 64th minute Joe Reynolds won the race to Lee Millar's kick-through to touch down.

Miller made it 13-7 with the conversion.

And suddenly Watsonians looked the the most likely side to go on and win.

With just five minutes remaining Lewis Berg completed the unlikely comeback with Millar adding the extras for a 14-13 lead.

Knights almost added a final twist after winning a penalty close to half way, but Hutchison's kick edged past the post.

It was a disappointing end to an entertaining showcase of Super6 for the home fans.

Southern Knights: F Thomson, J Jenkins, P Anderson, T Galbraith, M Mvelase-Julyan, S Hutchison, M McAndrew, G Shiells, R Anderson, E McQuillin , D Redpath, A Runciman, N Irvine-Hess, D Taylor & I Moody. Reps: C Whyte, B Colvine, R Knott, C Young, S Gunn & R Darge.