Ayr Rugby Club beat Llandovery in British and Irish Cup

Feb 18 2011 Ayrshire Post (main ed)

ON the way back from Ayr's high noon British and Irish Cup clash with Llandovery, a track came on the radio which summed up the game from the Millbrae men's perspective.

'Even the Bad Times are Good' warbled the Tremeloes and oh boy, were Ayr bad before they screwed a win with a finale of sheer guts to keep alive the hope of qualifying for the knockout stages of the tournament (writes RON EVANS).

At times, the team looked as though they had met for the first time during the warm-up and with mistakes abundant and more wrong decisions in an hour than Hosni Mubarak made in the whole of last week, they were looking down the barrel of a dispiriting defeat as they went into the final quarter 19-8 behind.

Now, Ayr have pulled themselves out of dodgy situations like this before but this one was serious. The Welshmen had their tails up, they posed real problems in the contact area, in defence and in a nifty eye for a counter attack which made it difficult to see how Ayr would turn the game round.

It is perhaps no coincidence that when two of the three Llandovery front row, Adam Yelland and Dean Howells, and flanker Phil Day were replaced, Ayr took control.

It was also the point where Ayr proved to have the stronger bench as they brought on Stephen Adair, Scott Nimmo, Paul Burke and, back from Australia, lock Scott Sutherland.

Ross Curle began what was to turn out a real curate's egg of a day with the boot as he calmly slotted a 50 yard penalty after only two minutes.

From the restart Ayr were penalised for crossing, harsh perhaps but careless nevertheless and stand-off Howard Thomas levelled the scores.

Three minutes later a sloppy pass put Grant Anderson under pressure, his equally sloppy kick was charged down by centre Huw Grundy and from the subsequent scramble and scrum, Ayr were penalised and Thomas put Llandovery into the lead.

On the quarter hour mark, Curle tried to find touch or somebody or something on the opposite side of the pitch but his kick lacked the legs, dropped straight into the arms of the onrushing Marc de Marigny and although Gordon Reid stopped him at the second attempt, that was enough to let the big lock put scrum half Rhodri Williams scamper away.

From the restart, Yelland burst through a suspect defence and again they had to scramble to prevent the score. But with the binning of lock Giles Vaughan, Ayr upped the pace, two line-out takes by Dean Stewart set up Damien Kelly and although he was held up, quick ball spun out looked promising but was fumbled with the opposition defence nowhere.

Finally the passes stuck, Andy Dunlop linked with AJ MacFarlane and Anderson's pass put Steven Manning over in the corner.

Curle hit the post with the conversion but again lackadaisical covering of the restart let Llandovery build the pressure with pick and drive. Finally the Ayr defence forced the knock on although relief was written all over their faces as a Thomas penalty failed to hit the mark for the home men to go in only 11-8 down.

Confusion reigned when Stuart Fenwick was binned and replacement Paul Burke then Dean Stewart took on the unaccustomed role of lineout thrower and with Llandovery snaffling possession, Thomas dropped a snap goal.

Still a man down, Rhodri Williams switched direction from the scrum base and put wing Jake Randell cantering in. Thomas missed the kick but the gap was now 11 points and Ayr were in disarray. When Glen Tippett and Damien Kelly went off injured and Dean Stewart substituted, it looked like kiss the B and I goodbye time.

Then came turnaround time. In the first scrum with substitute hooker Stephen Adair on, Ayr took a strike against the head, Dunlop kept his cool and plunged over for the try and Curle converted from wide out.

Suddenly the whole emphasis of the game changed, Ayr dominated the contact area and were shunting the Llandovery scrum back at an embarrassing rate and from close to the line, Dunlop picked up at the scrum base to twist over for his second try and although Curle missed this time, Ayr had somehow nudged a point ahead.

The final ten minutes were nailbiting with Ayr having to repel a final onslaught and a Mark Stewart tackle was crucial because it gave Ayr the momentum to set up a roistering series of pick and drives and although that ended in giving away a penalty, they had forced Llandovery far enough away from the red zone.

Director of Rugby Jock Craig admitted: "We were fortunate to still be in the game at half time. However, in the end we won without big players like Damien Kelly, Glen Tippett and Dean Stewart who were either off injured or substituted and that is great credit to the boys who came of the bench and were a big part in winning the game."

Coach Kenny Murray added: "The fact that we didn't have a game last week did us no favours but having players coming back like Scott Sutherland and Paul Burke strengthened the squad and all the subs gave us a fresh impetus in the final quarter.

“It puts ourselves in a good position for the final B and I pool game against Doncaster in a couple of weeks time.

“It was a great cup-tie for the neutral but nerve wracking for the us. Doncaster will be a huge game and we need to front up from the first minute, not the 61st which is exactly what we have to do at Mansfield Park against Hawick on Saturday when we get back to Premier League business."

Ayr have already won at Hawick this season but will need to take the points again to stay in what will become a title run-in likely to go to the wire.

On Friday, Llanishen took the spoils and the Les McCall Cup with a last minute penalty to win 17-15 but they were berated by their coach for winning with a penalty since 'that is not in the spirit of this match.' Great stuff.

Ayr team against Llandovery: Grant Anderson; Steven Manning, Ross Curle, Mark Stewart, Cammy Taylor; Robbie Fergusson, AJ MacFarlane; Gordon Reid, Stuart Fenwick, Andy Kelly, Damien Kelly, Dean Stewart, Andy Dunlop, Robbie Colhoun, Glen Tippett.

Subs Gordon Sykes (for Andy Kelly in 77min), Stephen Adair (for Fenwick, 59), Scott Nimmo (for Damien Kelly 52), Scott Sutherland (for Dean Stewart in 51, Paul Burke (for Tippett in 42), Dougie Steele, Gibson Siwo.

Highlights of Saturday’s game onscottishrugbytv.com