Ayr Rugby Club are back in training for the new season

Jul 9 2010 by Mike WIlson, Ayrshire Post (main ed)

Ayr Rugby Club are back in training for the new season

SUMMER is over for the players at Ayr Rugby Club who return back to training this week, meeting at Millbrae on Tuesday then down to the nasty stuff at Auchincruive from Thursday onwards.

So who will make up this season’s squad, will they challenge for the (currently sponsorless) Premier One title again and what will their prospects be in the domestic (currently sponsorless) cup and British and Irish Cup? (writes RON EVANS).

There was a real buzz of optimism in the way coach Kenny Murray spoke about the Ayr squad for next season but given the challenging task of helping coach the Scotland squad during the U20 Word Cup in Argentina in the past month, his relief at getting back to club duties was hardly surprising.

The players had until the end of June to make their intentions known and, with one exception, all of last season’s squad look like being back in pink and black next term.

The exception is lock Scott Sutherland who has apparently got stuck up a billabong somewhere in Oz but since skipper Damien Kelly and family are there on hols, perhaps he will dig him up talk some sense into him.

That means that the Kiwi crew of Frazier Climo, Mark Stewart and Jono Crossan will all line up again at Millbrae, last season’s itinerant, due to Scotland sevens calls, Grant Anderson will be a regular and they and the rest will be joined by some new and some returning faces.

Richard McCallum returns after his spell in France to augment the backs, former Ayr regular prop Andy Kelly will pitch up at Millbrae via Glasgow Warriors and GHA and flanker Julian Rae returns.

Another returnee will be Scott Forrest who was last season drafted to Currie where he had an occasional game but was most prominent as captain of the Scotland Sevens squad.

However, since contracts there have not been renewed this season, he returns to club rugby on a regular basis with the side with whom he won a championship medal two seasons ago and a quality addition he will be whether in midfield or back row.

New faces will include prop Nick Cox, until the end of last season captain of Hawks, who is moving to the town and two of the brightest young local prospects who could challenge for positions behind the scrum, Murray Beckwith from Troon and Mark Bennett from Cumnock.

The first opportunity to see some of the new recruits in action will be at the Hawks tournament on Friday, July 31, the penultimate warm-up match will be at Netherdale against Gala on August 7 then on August 14, London Scottish will be at Millbrae for the final warm up before the season kicks off on Saturday, August 21.

Premier Divisions One and Two will be played in a different format this season after the SRU AGM passed the proposal for a change which will ‘improve the performance and intensity of Scotland’s club game’ according to those who were cruelly dubbed ‘the gypsies’ (they are forever tinkering with the leagues).

The proposal states ‘The two top premier leagues begin the season as normal until each club has played each opponent once (11 games). Then the 24 teams from Premier One and Two will be split into three divisions of eight determined by their position.

Each group of eight will then play a single fixture against their new league opponents (seven games) to determine the Premier title, relegation from Premier One, promotion to Premier One and relegation from Premier Two to Premier Three. It will also determine qualification for the British and Irish Cup.

Ayr will be in a familiar looking pool for their cross border forays with away matches against Rotherham, Birmingham and Pontypridd and at Millbrae facing Doncaster and Llandovery.

It seems like no time at all from when we were celebrating that unforgettable day at Murrayfield when Ayr won the cup and then the wait well into May before the league was decided.

Indeed, only six weekends have passed since Ayr were scheduled to play their final league match at Selkirk and only six remain before they open their new campaign.

Hey, where DID summer go!