Ayr homing in on the play- offs
Only three points from home tie
The fog which swirled around the Bridgehaugh pitch could have been seen as an omen, that a group would emerge – zombie like – from the mist looking for a victim for an afternoon munch.
Going into the final quarter, it looked as though that victim would be Ayr.
They had squandered a 10- 0 lead and were facing a fired- up Stirling side who looked intent on taking not only a prestigious scalp but also culling invaluable points to ease them away from the nether regions of the BT Premiership.
The Millbrae men were forced to dig very deep in the final quarter to reverse the flow but in the end experience and some gritty, hard nosed graft got them through to a 29- 14 win leaving them still second in the table and requiring three points from two games to secure a home tie in the play- offs.
Ayr opened the scoring when Frazier Climo sniffed an intercept, scooted through the Stirling defence, passed to wing Danny McCluskey to apply the finishing touch from 45 yards out then converted the try he had initiated.
The No10 then slotted a penalty and at 10- 0 to the visitors, the game settled into an arm wrestle from which neither side took much until, four minutes from the end of the half.
Stirling No8 Ruairdh Leishman scorched through a gap to take play into the Ayr 22 and Ross Jone’s wicked kick to the corner sat up nicely for wing Logan Trotter to scamper over for the try which Jonny Hope converted to make it 10- 7 at the break.
That score galvanised Stirling and they were in control all through the third quarter culminating in a try from Andrew Grant- Suttie with the final pass coming from Corey Flynn, the All Black World Cup winner on loan for the day from Glasgow Warriors.
That was when Ayr dug deep and hit straight back with George Hunter crashing over at the posts for Climo to convert and with that came the confidence to give the ball a bit of air.
With six minutes left, Richard Dalgleish went in for try number three then from a brilliant run by Stafford McDowall, the centre’s offload put Grant Anderson in for the bonus point try with two minutes remaining.
This was never going to be easy, games at Bridgehaugh never are, and that was acknowledged by coach Calum Forrester.
He said: “There was a point there where any sort of win would do so to come away with a bonus was – well – a bonus.
“It has always been tight against Stirling in recent seasons and we gave ourselves problems we didn’t need in the first half and when they went ahead they deserved it.
“That was when we really got a grip, pulled the game round and to get the second try when we did was probably the turning point for us to put together a much better game after that.”
The coach singled out flanker Will Bordill and centre Scotland U20 Stafford McDowall for particular praise.
He said “Will put in a prodigious tackle count and when Stafford came on at centre, I think it changed the momentum.”
Ayr travel to Rubislaw on Saturday to begin their BT Cup campaign against Aberdeen Grammar Rugby ( kick- off 1.30pm).