Ayr Rugby Club roll over Hawick and get set to party

Mar 6 2009 by Mike Wilson

Ayr roll over Greens and get set to party

Hawick 19 Ayr 45

WHAT to say to a side who have scored more than 100 in two successive cup ties and now face the biggest game in the club’s history?

GO FOR IT!

To face Hawick at Mansfield Park on a Sunday to get to the last 16 of the Scottish Hydro Electric Cup was never going to be an easy task.

And when the Greens took a 12-7 lead approaching half time, it looked as though Ayr might not get the win which would give them such a huge boost before the Edinburgh Accies game on Saturday.

A couple of daft penalties allowed Craig Neish to slot the kicks and put Hawick 6-0 ahead. Then a nifty AJ McFarlane try converted by Frazier Climo took Ayr ahead but another couple of Neish penalties restored the home side's lead with the break approaching. Ryan Holland scooted in for the levelling try to take the score to 12-12 at half-time after what had been a disjointed first half from the Premier One leaders.

Then the floodgates opened. With the wind and rain behind them, the pack took control and the flow of ball to the backs suddenly saw Ayr back to their best.

Flo Marin showed his aptitude for the deadly finish to go over for try number three and Richard McCallum was next on the scoresheet. Stewart Magorian, in at centre for Julian Montoro who didn't come through the warm up, claimed the next try and with Climo converting, the match was over as a contest.

Climo nabbed the next with a superb looping run to the corner and finally it was only justice that prop Stewart Fenwick got a forward’s name on the scoresheet since it was up front that the feisty Hawick pack had been tamed in the second half. Matt Landels had the final word with a try for Hawick converted by Neish but it was Ayr who marched into the last 16.

Coach Kenny Murray claimed: "Against the wind and rain in the first half they defended well and closed us down and made it pretty tight. We gave away silly penalties to put a bit of pressure on ourselves.

"It was a different story with the wind behind us because we started to execute our moves crisply and supported well to score some really great tries.There is no doubt that this sets us up for Saturday and with only a couple of bumps in the side, it looks as though we will have a full squad to pick from."

Team: Andy Wilson; Flo Marin, Stewart Magorian, Richard McCallum, Ryan Holland; Frazier Climo, AJ McFarlane; Gordon Sykes, Pat MacArthur, Gordon Reid, Damien Kelly, Scott Sutherland, Jeff Wilson, Andy Dunlop, Glen Tippett. Subs: Stewart Fenwick, Scott Nimmo, Dougie Steele, Colin Sturgeon

And so to Saturday, a day which could be writ large in the annals of Ayr Rugby Club.

Edinburgh Accies come to Millbrae lying eighth and still on the fringe of the relegation zone so they will be desperate for the points and anyone who thinks that this is a formality should lose that notion pronto.

Ayr have to hold their nerve, produce the style of rugby which has thrilled the home support so often this season already and if they do, the biggest prize in Scottish rugby will be theirs.

Four points will do it and they will be the most precious points garnered at Ayr since the days when, in the early 60s, the stones were cleared from the market garden that was Millbrae to create the pitch.

There will be those in the crowd on Saturday, your correspondent included, who were among those stone gatherers and I can assure you that there will be no prouder rugby followers in Scotland if, on the final whistle, Ayr have collected those invaluable points and with them the Premier One title.

Get there if you can for what could be a day to tell the grandkids about.