Ayr Rugby Club fight hard for a bonus

Oct 2 2009 by Mike Wilson

HOT Ayr are celebrating five wins out of five as they continue to set a scorching pace at the top of Scottish Hydro Electric Premier One.

The opening minutes were frantic, both sides enjoying a gambol in the sunshine and spinning the ball about as though it was a training session.

It got serious six minutes in and from an Ayr line out drive, Frazier Climo put Cammy Taylor through the hole and the wing offloaded perfectly for Ross Curle to go in for a try straight off the training paddock.

Climo converted, missed a penalty then watched as Duncan Weir hauled Hawks into things with a pot from in front. Annoyed, Ayr hit back and props shouldn't get away with the sort of dummy Stuart Fenwick sold to set up the move which saw the ball swung across the pitch for Grant Anderson to score in the corner.

The next spell went according to the gospel of Matthew, James the referee that is, not the saint, and penalties peppered the scoreboard, three for Hawks and one for Ayr then at 15-12 and seven minutes of the half left, larceny ruled.

Damien Kelly was responsible for the most outrageous piece of thievery from a Hawks maul, thundered away and put Curle in for his second try. Pragmatism resumed as Climo and Weir exchanged penalties to take Ayr in 25-15 ahead at the break but the feeling remained that the enforced fragmentation of the game was perhaps denying Hawks young speedsters like Peter Jericevich, Robbie Hair and Craig Gossman their head.

Weir closed the gap with an early second half penalty but Climo stretched it wider as he ghosted past the Hawks defence and converted for the bonus point try.

However, with eleven minutes to go, Sean Murray scampered in for the score Hawks deserved and Weir's conversion clinched a bonus they also deserved and, in fact, had a couple of passes stuck in the final minutes, they could well have taken a share of the spoils.

In a match where ten penalties were attempted and eight goaled, innumerable given in play and four yellow cards handed out, it would be easy to conclude that this was warfare of the highest degree but no.

An intense physical contest yes, and nothing less would be expected against the Old Anniesland outfit, but while the referee did his best, his inconsistencies were obvious and it has to be said that with an experienced whistler like Andy Ireland running touch, it emphasised the point that Premier One has reached a level where it cannot be used to trial inexperienced referees.

Hawks coach Peter Wright was philosophical and made no attempt to blame the referee. He claimed: "We didn't take our chances and Ayr were clinical in their finishing. There were times when we didn't defend well and Ayr took full advantage and although we had a bit more territory and possession, our pace men lost the support runners too often and we let chances go.

“The contact area was a total shambles but it was the same for both sides and Ayr are on a roll just now and when that happens, they are very difficult to stop."

Ayr coach Kenny Murray conceded he was happy with a bonus point after playing 30 minutes with 14 men due to the yellow cards.

He added: "The four tries to one scoreline shows the domination we had but the penalties they were awarded kept them in the game. I was happier with our defence and we went for long spells close to our line keeping them out but Hawks are not a bad side – you only have to look at the narrow margins they have lost by to see that.

"We were much more physical with some of the hits going in absolutely massive and it was great to see the first try come off a move we work on every week but we are hyper-critical of our own performance. The landscape of Premier One has changed in that we are no longer the challengers, we are the champions and everyone lifts their game against us and that will be the case again this week when we go to Dundee.”

The Taysiders come off a three win run having lost only their opening two matches and the wily Ian Rankin will already be plotting the downfall of a side he would dearly love to turn over at Mayfield.

Five wins out of five with only one short of maximum points tells its own story though and, as they showed at Raeburn Place last week, if the fat lady sings, nobody in this Ayr side is listening until they have finished.

Ayr - G. Anderson; J McCrossan, R Curle, M Stewart, C Taylor; F Climo, J Hunter; G Reid, S Adair, S Fenwick, D Kelly, S Sutherland, J Crossan, P Burke, G Tippett. Subs: S Nimmo, E Kalman, H Mitchell, B Hendry, S Manning.

Millbrae went down 22-20 at Wigtownshire with tries coming from Johnny Gemmell and Steven Lynch. David Courtney added two conversions and two penalties.