Ayr Rugby Club end their season with heavy defeat to Currie

May 6 2011 Ayrshire Post (main ed)

THAT’S it folks. All done and done over in their final match was Ayr's fate against a Currie side who ran in six tries in a defeat the likes of which has not been witnessed at Millbrae for many a long.

It may have been a dead rubber in terms of the Premier One title but second and third place were at stake as well as desire to give two of Ayr's finest warriors Damien Kelly and Glen Tippett a great send-off to Australia and into the sunset respectively (writes RON EVANS).

It was not to be and the six try hammering at the hands of Ally Donaldson's clinical troops confirmed what many had feared, that this was a tired Ayr side who, having raised their game heroically at times during a run of six games on the road – they hadn't played at Millbrae since the British and Irish Cup match against Doncaster on March 23 – simply ran out of gas.

Had they won at the Greenyards last week to make this a play-off for the title, it might have been a different story but faced with a side who ferociously contested the breakdown, showed real pace outside the scrum and, in every department, wanted it more, Ayr simply couldn't raise their game.

Fingers will be pointed too at referee Andrew McMenemy who, in the opening minutes, managed to keep the penalty count against Ayr up with the clock.

It wasn't the referee who missed the tackle on Andrew Binikos when the Currie No10 sent James Johnstone scampering clear for the second try. Nor did he give an interception pass to Andy Adam with a try scoring overlap on hand letting the lock gallop 60 yards for what was a 14 pointer and swung the game.

So the frothing at the mouth indulged in by certain Ayr supporters achieved nothing apart from inviting the accusation of being poor losers. Ayr have had their fair share of the breaks so live with it!

Ayr can claim that there was a knock on involved in the build up to Finlay Gillies' opening try after nine minutes. And that they had a penalty try denied when Currie were pinged many times in the shadow of their own posts after Ross Curle's nifty try had brought them onto the scoreboard, despair increasing as Mark Stewart was denied a touch down under the posts by the referee on the half time mark.

Ayr had also suffered the disadvantage of playing with 14 men for 20 minutes of the half, Curle and Scott Sutherland having been binned during what was becoming an increasingly hostile contest.

Currie turned 17-5 ahead, a deficit well within the capabilities of the Millbrae men of overturning but any momentum they built seemed to grind to a halt on the ref's say-so.

When Stu Simonsen crossed for try number four with Hayden Abercrombie converting, it really did become a damage limitation exercise. Abercrombie slotted a penalty in 51 minutes and any hope Ayr had of even getting a sniff of a result was obliterated when a second try was denied them when Paul Burke was harshly adjudged to have knocked on.

Ayr kept up the pressure, Currie defended out of their skins but a superb handling move with an Ayr try looking a certainty was again called back for a dubious forward pass.

You could sense at this point that Ayr's hearts were no longer really in the game and although Abercrombie missed a 50 metre penalty, after a huge Currie blast in the scrum, the visitors scented blood and tries by Mike Entwhistle and Andy Turnbull, both converted by Abercrombie in the final 11 minutes, meant that Curle's conversion of Andy Dunlop's try didn't even get close to being a consolation.

So it ended, not with a bang but certainly not with a whimper, the disappointment around the ground palpable and not because of the result nor the size of the defeat but rather that this side deserved better but in the end found themselves finally in front of their own crowd but playing a game too far.

“Embarrassing and sad that we couldn't give Skippy and Glen a better send-off” was the summing up of coach Kenny Murray.

I would disagree with his first sentiment but concur with the latter because one result should not be allowed to overshadow another memorable season for the Millbrae men.

As was pointed out last week, they pulled off three of the four targets of the season having got to the knockout stages of the British and Irish Cup, qualified for the cross border tournament again next season and won the Premier One Cup, falling at only the second last hurdle in their quest to regain the Premier One title.

Over the next few weeks we will look back at that season with the coach and in an interview with Kelly, done a couple of days before his return to his homeland.

For the moment, however, it is fitting to congratulate Murray and his side on a remarkable season when they overcame what at times seemed almost insurmountable odds, not least in the number of players who became unavailable for all or part of the season for a variety of reasons.

To lose players of the quality of Jamie Hunter, Frazier Climo, Scott Forrest, Mark Bennett, Andy Wilson, Mark Stewart and Richard McCallum in the backs as well as losing Jono Crossan and Nick Cox with Scott Sutherland only coming back for the last series of games was a huge disadvantage.

When you look at that list of personnel, it could form the core of a side most Premier One teams would give an arm and a leg for.

So as the players head off for a well deserved rest, it only remains to wish the best of luck to another Ayr side going for the double.

Ayr under 16s have won their league and on Saturday play Stirling on the main pitch at Murrayfield for the Youth Cup. They deserve the support of at least some of the pink and black army who travelled to Murrayfield a couple of weeks ago to support Ayr in the Premier Cup and hopefully they can emulate the 1st XV and bring the trophy back to Millbrae.

Finally, Millbrae last Wednesday witnessed a couple of cup finals of its own with Marr clinching spoils in the under 16 and under 18 Ayrshire secondary schools cup finals. They faced Carrick in both finals, winning the first 66-0 but the under 18 final was a cracker with Carrick coming very close before going down 22-19.

Highlights of the school finals are on www.scottishrugbytv.com