Injury hit Ayr beat Boroughmuir at Meggetland

Oct 8 2010 Ayrshire Post (main ed)

INJURY hit Ayr came away from Meggetland, never their happiest venue, with their biggest win ever at the Edinburgh ground and the biggest winning margin in Premier One on Saturday.

And that was despite an unavailable list which, just for novelty, hit the front row with Andy Kelly celebrating his nuptials and Nick Cox still suffering from a pain in the neck.

Gordon Sykes was hauled out of retirement to put in another solid shift while Glen Tippett again packed down in the second row beside Dean Stewart with Glasgow draftee Ryan Wilson in the back row alongside Andy Dunlop and Jonno Crossan with Rob Colhoun still sidelined.

Ayr again had to come from behind, a long spell of 'Muir pressure resulting in a try for prop Robin Hislop converted by Ally Warnock. But a quick thinking tap penalty gave Mark Bennett the room to pick up speed and shred the home defence with Ross Curle's conversion tying the scores.

The ball was being slung about by both sides and with the 'Muir line at their mercy, Ayr allowed the interception and wing Harris Jones scorched the length of the field for try number two with Warnock again adding the kick.

Curle narrowed the gap with a penalty and Ayr turned round with the breeze at their backs and boosted by Damien Kelly's appearance off the bench.

Curle emphasised Ayr's early second half dominance with a couple of penalties to give the visitors the lead but it took a bit of nimble reaction by Stephen Adair to stretch the margin when he followed up a ball which had bounced off his knee handily beyond the defence and grabbed his first try for the side.

It was going to take one more score to make the win certain and it looked like Cammy Taylor had claimed it as he completed an interception and 60 metres burst with a celebratory dive only he forgot to take the ball over with him.

That could have proved costly for Ayr until Curle completed an excellent afternoon's work with a drop goal to take them more than a score ahead going into the final minutes and there was no way they were going to let 'Muir back in.

Coach Kenny Murray was delighted with a result which puts Ayr two points clear at the top.

He said: “Considering the injury problems we have had over the past four or five weeks, I was very happy to take a win and with it the biggest margin Ayr have had at Meggetland.

"It was a bit of a shaky start and we threw the ball around too loosely and both teams looked a bit nervous in what was a vital match for both sides.

“When we speeded our game up they found it hard to defend against us which is what led to Mark Bennett's try. We struggled a bit in the set piece and their prop Robin Hislop deserved his try for putting in a really good game but Gordon Sykes did well against a very powerful pack considering it was his first game this season.

“We took a wrong option to give them the intercept try but the turning point came after that when they were camped on our line and couldn't get over when they were 14-10 up and we were confident going into the second half.

"Mark Stewart was feeling his hamstring injury so we brought on Richard McCallum and with Damien Kelly beefing up the pack we were controlling the game with AJ MacFarlane and Ross Curle outstanding at half back and Ross's tactical kicking was at times superb.

“We got into the lead but then we had to defend for a long spell and our back row of Andy Dunlop, Jonno Crossan and Ryan Wilson were terrific. However, the game could have gone either way when Cammy Taylor went over and dropped the ball but the drop kick was what we needed to clinch the game.

"We knew how big a game this was and our control and tactical kicking was where we won it so we managed to keep to our target of winning away games, with the exception of Hawks, and collecting the win bonus at Millbrae when possible and we go into the final four games before the split in a strong position."

Director of Rugby Jock Craig claimed: "We always looked the better side both in attack and defence and played some great rugby with the final pass letting us down several times.

“Ross Curle had his best game yet for the side and some of his kicking was immaculate so to go to Meggetland and come away with a win like that is a huge confidence booster.

“It was a really workmanlike performance with everybody playing for everyone else which sums up the team spirit in the side."

On Saturday at Millbrae, Ayr face a West side who held Currie to a remarkable 38-38 draw at Burnbrae and who will be fighting like the devil to stay out of the bottom four with games running out.

It will be no easy task against a side who are improving by the game but Ayr are again building the reputation of being just a bit hard to beat.

Watch highlights of the Ayr v West game next week on www.scottishrugbytv.com