Ayr win at Hawick to get off to Premier One flier

Aug 27 2010 by Mike WIlson, Ayrshire Post (main ed)

TO mis-quote PG Wodehouse, it is never difficult to distinguish between a Hawick supporter who has just seen the Greens lose and a ray of sunshine.

Nevertheless, the Mansfield Park faithful will no doubt have taken a lot from their performance against Ayr in a season which, after being relegated for the first time in the club’s history, is as much about restoring pride in the town as winning titles or cups.

It was a cracker of a match to usher in the Scottish Premier Division One campaign and one which showed yet again why Ayr are now regarded as such a dominant force.

Their pre-season had been undistinguished with losses against Gala and London Scottish, they were making the trip to reiver land to face a proud Hawick side out to show they deserved to be back in the top league and they were fielding a side shorn of key personnel-yet they still pulled off a five pointer.

Damien Kelly is still in re-hab after his toe operation but bursting to play, Frazier Climo is still in New Zealand and Paul Burke, having put in a splendid shift for Glasgow against Sale on Friday night was a late call-off.

After half an hour, it looked as though Ayr's worst fears would be realised as Hawick came out all guns blazing and a try in five minutes from Neil Renwick then in 27 minutes by Danny Landels took the home side into a 10-0 lead.

Suddenly, it was though a switch had been flipped and Ayr, as they have done so often in the past turned on the power play for the final ten minutes and took control.

Skipper Mark Stewart went in for the opener, Ross Curle slotted a penalty three minutes later then the Ayr No10 took himself into double figures before the break with a scorching try and conversion.

Stewart notched his second three minutes into the second half and again Curle converted but a try by Hawick prop Bruce McNeil converted by Stuart Hogg on the hour mark brought back fears of last week’s collapse against London Scottish.

This is the real thing though and you could tell Ayr have been here before as they hit back with Stewart grabbing his hat-trick for Curle to take his tally to 14 with the conversion but Hawick refused to lie down and a Renwick try three minutes from the end, although unconverted, still gave them the losing bonus and within sight of a draw.

Jamie Hunter's last minute try denied them both, Curle converted and a very dangerous hurdle had been negotiated with a bonus point secured.

The realisation comes home only now how short a period and how little margin for error there is between game one and game eleven when the split will take place in Premier One.

Director of Rugby Jock Craig said: "There are certainly things to work on but there were some beautiful passages of play but that was a very, very important five points.

"Mark Stewart played a real captain's role and his performance was outstanding and although Ross Curle has still a bit of work to do on his tactical kicking, his general play at No10 was excellent and the way he held his nerve to bang over pressure place kicks will have done his confidence no harm at all.

"The coaches proved to be pretty smart tactically when they brought on all four props at one time with Gordon Reid moving back to flanker. It helped settle the game down and it showed really clever thinking.

"Overall we have to be really pleased to have taken five points against a Hawick side who will do some damage in the league and it is the best possible start we could have had."

Skipper Mark Stewart was equally happy. He said: "It was an honour to be captain of the side and we all knew how tough it would be going to Hawick for the opener so my job was to lead by example on the field.

“When we went ten points down we had not had much ball but we were confident that when we started to win ball we would do some damage and we did.

“To get 22 points in the ten minutes either side of half time was crucial but it something we have done before and that sort of experience in the side is invaluable.

“We did let them back in a bit and at the back of your mind is what we did last week at Millbrae but we plugged the ball into the corners and made them play to get out and we kept our discipline and in the end it paid off.

"It was great to see Mark Bennett get his first start in Premier One and there is no doubt that he has the confidence and potential to go far and at the other end of the scale lock David Craig at 35 years old plays his first Premier game alongside James Young on his debut as well and both gave it absolutely everything."

To get points from an away game in the borders is a great result and taking five points is the start we wanted because that will be a real confidence booster for facing Melrose at Millbrae on Saturday which is going to be one very intense encounter."

Indeed it will and Craig Chalmers brings his troops to Millbrae for a re-play of April's cup final on the back of a win which shocked probably everyone outside the Greenyards when they inflicted an opening day defeat on champions Currie.

There is an interesting theory which suggests that last season, Currie took on Ayr's opponents the week after they had played against Ayr and that effort took it out of sides for their match against the Malleny Park outfit.

The opposite applies this season with Ayr taking on Currie's opponents the following week but it remains to be seen if Melrose are knackered after Saturday’s effort or if the adrenaline is still buzzing.

It has all the makings of a belter of a game, it kicks off at 3pm highlights will be on www.scottishrugbytv.com so get your pink cap out, head for Millbrae and make some noise.