Jed-Forest may have bowed out of the Scottish Hydro Electric Cup but they did not go quietly, despite what the scoreline may suggest.

Nevertheless, although they dominated for long phases of the game and subjected the Heriot's defence to a stern examination, the visitors rarely looked likely to create the shock that would have set up an all-Borders clash at Murrayfield on May 3.

Ultimately, Heriot's had too much pace and power for the battling Riverside Park men, who will take little consolation from inevitably being labelled plucky losers.

Roy Laidlaw, their director of rugby, cast a realistic eye over a match that offered an opportunity to measure how much further his side have to go to be able to compete in the top flight.

"We gave it our best shot but it shows we are too small physically. It's maybe not a bad thing that we haven't won promotion this year because we clearly are not ready for it yet," he said.

The visitors displayed all of the qualities expected of a Borders side - tenacity, ferocity in the tackle, a lack of respect for the reputations of their opponents, and a significant contribution to the crowd, which was the biggest seen at Goldenacre for many years.

During the opening half hour, they matched the bigger Heriot's pack and stretched the Edinburgh side's defence on several occasions, with left winger Roy MacFarlane twice bundled into touch just short of the line.

The only shortcoming was their inability to transform the pressure into points and they were given a lesson in the art of finishing that dashed their giant-killing aspirations, with the home side grabbing two tries in the closing 10 minutes of the first half and two more within 10 minutes of the restart.

Craig Simmonds, the Scotland Under-20 lock, set the scoreboard ticking over and sevens internationalist Chris Fusaro claimed a second, just before the break, with Graham Wilson converting both for a 14-0 interval lead.

Tam McVie killed off the game when he galloped over for the third early in the second period, and a rout appeared to be looming when captain Marc Teague squeezed in at the corner shortly afterwards, Wilson adding both conversions.

To their credit, Jed battled back, possibly aided by a temporary easing off by the home side who considered the job done. Jamie McCraw's try came after a searing break by Gary Hill - Jed's top performer - and Donald Grieve added the extra points. But Heriot's celebrated securing their first cup final berth since winning the trophy in 2003 with further scores by Simmonds, James Thompson and Peter Eccles, two of them converted by Murray Strang to raise the possibility of a half century.

However, it was the visitors who had the last word when Robert Hogg went over and Grieve again converted.

Bob McKillop, Heriot's coach, said he was very pleased with the result and with the way his team played.

"I said to the players before the game that a semi-final is a terrible place to lose and we have a few players who have lost in the semis before.

"Jed are a proud team, as we knew they would be, and they really got stuck into us. I was really pleased that we met physicality with physicality."

He acknowledged that the final will pose an even tougher test, adding: "It was just part one of the job to get there, now we can look forward to part two. It's going to be tough but it's a problem we would much rather have than not have."