MILLBRAE MEN SET FOR TITLE CRUNCH
Archie try seals comeback victory
It wasn’t supposed to happen that way.
Hawick pitched up at Millbrae with more than half their regular squad away on a stag/ holiday/ jolly to Barbados and the word was that they had written off this one and would pick up the pieces next week.
However, someone made a good job of shredding that script and with it the nerves of the home support who went through a roller coaster with Ayr, at one stage 3413 down, and had it been boxing, the ref could well have stopped the fight.
Hawick coach Nikki Walker had said before the match that his boys had nothing to lose and it was in that swashbuckling mood that they set about Ayr with scant regard for the reputation of the side in second place in the BT Premiership.
They opened with a scorcher of a try from wing D’arcy Graham, who made the Ayr defence look ponderous with an electrifying burst of pace.
It would be as well to remember this name since there as those at Mansfield who reckon the U20 Scottish international could be as good as Stewart Hogg. Kirk Ford converted but then Ayr roused themselves and prop Djustice Sears- Duru crashed over from a line out drive and although Frazier Climo missed the kick, he nailed a penalty on the quarter hour to give Ayr an 8- 7 lead.
Order was then restored, assumed the pink and black faithful. Well, not quite.
Brice McNeill blistered over for Hawick’s second try, Ford converted and added a couple of penalties before the break and with these scores bracketing a Grant Anderson touchdown which Ayr concocted in the simplest fashion, it was a stunned home side who traipsed to the changing room.
It would all be put right after the break, it was assumed. Hawick would tire after their brave effort of the first half and Ayr would pull away. Aye right!
Eight minutes after the restart, Hawick had rattled in another 14 points from prop Calum Macintosh after McNeill took a quick tap penalty as Ayr slumbered, then it was another brilliant solo effort from Graham, who tormented all afternoon.
With Ford landing both conversions, Ayr were 21 points adrift, their scrum hardly in dominant mode, the line- out looking shaky and the breakdown aggression mostly coming from Hawick. It all made Ayr look very ordinary, particularly with the defensive chores being carried out at times as though the players had only been introduced in the changing room.
As if by magic, Ayr suddenly remembered the script, saw defeat staring them in the face and an extraordinary 10- minute spell saw them back in the lead.
Anderson put Danny McCluskey over in the corner for Climo to convert. The pack started to bully the Hawick forwards and then George Hunter barrelled over.
Then, in the space of four minutes, Craig Gossman, with assists from Climo, went in twice at the corner and with Climo slotting the second, Ayr were three ahead.
Incredibly, Hawick were not finished, lock Keith McNeill had an all- too- easy run in for their fifth try and again Ayr were under the cosh.
With the crowd baying more in anguish than hope, the game was salvaged in the final play with Hawick defending desperately but running out of tacklers as Archie Russell squeezed in at the corner for Ross Curle to convert.
For the neutral, the game was epic and a wonderful advert for Scottish club rugby but the emotional gamut run by both sets of supporters, running from pride through to despair for Hawick and anxiety to relief for Ayr, was a right wringer.