Ayr Rugby Club get a rocket

Oct 30 2009 by Mike Wilson

A SEVEN try show swept Ayr to victory against gutsy Selkirk...but without setting the heather alight.

Skipper Damien Kelly led the way with a hat-trick while other scores came from John Crossan, Frazier Climo, Jamie Hunter and Gordon Sykes.

However, the scoreline was branded as 'not acceptable' by team manager Ronnie McKinnon who claimed another 30 points could have been added.

He revealed: "We gave away a try in only seven minutes due to laziness in defence and although we came back from that the players still got a rocket at half-time.

"You could see they had taken that on board with a superb performance in the third quarter but then they lost momentum. That was when it became apparent that at times they seem to lack the killer instinct that was there last season."

McKinnon added: "There were areas of our game which were awful and for the Ayr crowd to applaud, with heavy irony, when we eventually won our own lineout ball was nothing short of embarrassing.

"It’s an area we have to look at closely and ask if the problem lies in the throwing, the jumping or the lifting, all of which are now integral parts of the lineout. We also have to look at our tactics there and assess whether what we have agreed to do is actually being carried out or whether the changes being made on the field are the wrong decisions for perhaps the right reasons.

"There were positives in that we did have some excellent passages of play, our discipline improved, we collected another bonus point and we defended well although there are parts of that area too that we have to work on. From a playing point of view, John Crossan, voted Pinewood Restaurant man of the match, was outstanding with a fantastic workrate in turnovers, tackles and got forward so we do have things we can take from the game."

The difference between the sides was apparent in the opening minute when, from the kick off, the Selkirk pack were driven back at an alarming rate of knots. They cleared but only to Andy Wilson who got the ball away despite Alex Dunbar's crunching tackle and Grant Anderson's run deep into Selkirk territory ended with Kelly crashing over for the opening try for Climo to convert.

Ayr relaxed allowing Selkirk to hit back from the restart, Rory Aglen charging down Climo's kick and winning the race for the touchdown with Mike Rutherford's conversion levelling the scores.

That was about as good as it got for Selkirk though as they were unable to prevent a supply of good ball reaching the pacey Ayr backs who suffered a late change when centre Mark Stewart failed a late fitness test on the ankle which had troubled him since the Dundee match three weeks ago. As a result, Dougie Steele started at full back with Anderson moving to centre.

Flanker Crossan struck in ten minutes after Andy Dunlop had delicately prodded a beautifully weighted ball into his path. Then Kelly grabbed his second at the end of the first quarter, Climo's long miss pass releasing Wilson whose inside offload found the big lock on his elbow.

On the half hour came a beauty. Alex Dunbar and Ross Armstrong had been policing the midfield well, particularly in shutting down Ross Curle's Christiano Ronaldo impersonations but when Climo shaped to throw a long pass, everyone fell for it.

The No10 drifted smoothly into the gap and from 50 yards out, was uncatchable. Climo converted his own try then Rutherford slotted a late penalty to take Selkirk in trailing 26-10.

Despite Selkirk dominating the lineout through Aglen, Simon Willett and Neil Darling and a colossal amount of tidying up by No8 Scott Tomlinson, there was nothing they could do to stop a rampant Ayr cutting loose and a close quarter try for Kelly notched his hat-trick.

Ten minutes later, Curle set off on a mazy meander which ended with a perfectly timed off load to scrum half Hunter who scampered over. Then Sykes crossed for a try which was due reward for a hefty shift and with all three converted by Climo, the game was well out of sight.

It was to Selkirk's enormous credit that they prevented Ayr from adding to their tally in the last 20 minutes and indeed with ten minutes to go they pulled back a try from Jim Thomson which summed up their fighting qualities as well as highlighting a worrying lack of urgency in the home ranks.

Now Ayr travel to Burnbrae on Saturday to face a West side who are third bottom of the table having won only two matches, the derby against Hawks at Old Anniesland and against Stewart's Melville at Burnbrae.

They have shipped 83 points in the last two games, losing to Selkirk at Philiphaugh then Currie at Malleny on Saturday so they will either be another easy mark for Ayr or they will lift their game as all teams have done against the champions.

West coach John Beattie would take particular delight in turning over a team he consistently, and wrongly, singles out as having a 'foreign legion' but the problem for Ayr remains - how do you make a successful side hungry?

A great challenge for the coaching and management team as the game against league leaders Currie looms at Millbrae on November 7 with the British and Irish Cup coming ever closer.