Rugby is coming home to Millbrae

The 36- 7 demolition of Glasgow Hawks in their penultimate BT Premiership match in the regular season ensures Ayr home advantage in the play- off semi final.

They cannot be overtaken for second spot and although they now top the table, Melrose are a point behind with a game in hand.

Ayr now take on Watsonians at Millbrae in the final match of the regular season on Saturday and again the result has huge consequences.

Should Ayr win ( which would be pay- back for a daft loss at Myreside) and Melrose lose, the Millbrae men could stay top and ensure not only a home semi- final play- off but should they navigate that, home advantage in the final.

Throw into the mix a BT Cup semi- final against Jed on March 4 and a home tie if they beat the borderers, it all suddenly looks as though rugby, to use that horrible cliché, is coming home to Millbrae.

One fascinating statistic shows that at this point, with one game remaining, Ayr have one point more than they finished with when they topped the regular season table last year.

Coach Callum Forrester said: “As we go forward now, each game is about knockout rugby. That was the case against Hawks and given the pressure, I thought our discipline was outstanding.

“We knew what a win would mean in that we had a home play- off semi final as well as the cup quarter final so we have to be very happy that we have got there and will now be able to give something to the fans at Millbrae who haven’t seen a lot of us recently.

“The team showed immense cha ra ct e r, particularly when down to 14 men.”