Helensburgh Rugby's first team head coach Adam Hart said the Kilmarnock players wanted it more after his side lost 23-12 at Ardencaple on Saturday.

The Burgh scored early on after four minutes, but Killie bounced back to lead 18-7 at half-time.

And despite a second half Grizzlies try, the away side were able to hold out.

The head coach said: “We were poor. If we played the way we could have then we should have won.

“To be honest with you they wanted it more than we did. They were more up for the physical battle more than us, and we didn't match them.

“They were nothing special - we should have beaten them if we had played the same as the week before.”

Hart said his players strayed from their game plan, attempting moves in their own 22 that they normally don't do in training, and were unable to use the blustery and wet conditions to their advantage.

“We didn't manage the weather well," he continued. "In the second half we didn't use the wind as well as we could have.

“In the first half we tried to make sure that in the latter stages of the game we tried to not give them an easy out. The wind came across the pitch, and not up and down it.

“And in key areas in their 22 we had good, quick ball, and some of our players tried to grubber the ball through and chip balls over the top.

“We don't work on that stuff in training, so why are you trying to do it in a match?

“But again we just didn't have the same continuity in players. We didn't have the same players, we had about eight or nine players and that was it.”

And the club's injury woes continue, with winger Ally Rogers damaging the ligaments in his hand in the course of the match to add to their growing list of casualties.

But the head coach is hoping that prop Phil Ard will return for their next game away to Newton Stewart.

And he said that despite the defeat, there were still positives to take from the game.

"The set piece was an improvement again," he added, "and our lineout worked OK, especially with how the wind was."

After five games, the head coach said his side should have picked up more points at home than on the road, but a win away at Irvine was a welcome surprise for his team.

And things do not get easier for Helensburgh as they prepare to travel to face a Newton Stewart side who defeated the Grizzlies 46-0 in the teams' last meeting.

Helensburgh’s last win at Bladnoch Park was back in 2012, when they ran out 14-7 winners. Kick-off for the game is at 3pm on Saturday.