Melrose steal the first blood
Coach sees positives in defeat
minutes Ayr were shorthanded was always going to be a daunting margin and although Rob McAlpine pulled a try back after Ferguson had been binned, they still trailed 17- 32 at the break.
It was significant that Ayr couldn’t take advantage of the extra man in the opening eight minutes of the second half but they did reduce the margin when Blair Macpherson got the touchdown after a ferocious drive and only eight points now separated the sides.
Sam Pecqueur was the man who gave Melrose the crucial score when he crossed after a Jason Baggott kick infield was won by Iain Moody but still Ayr were not done and a second Macpherson try brought the home side to within a score of the lead.
Melrose came back with a beauty of a try, set up by a superb Thomson thrust, carried on by Pecqueur and when the ball came back to McCann he completed the try of the day.
Baggott converted, Ayr had no time to come back and Melrose lifted the BT Charity Shield.
The gauntlet has indeed been thrown down.
Ayr coach Calum Forrester admitted: “We need to get into the game quicker than we did today but there were a lot of positives.
“Some of our young players showed up well at times and it was a tough one for them because we know that come the end of the season, Melrose are going to be up there again.”
Melrose looked the sharper, probably a couple of weeks ahead of Ayr in terms of preparation for the season and it showed with their greater control of the breakdown and the pace they injected into counter attack.
Ayr can be happy with certain aspect of their game and the recruitment of Scott Lyle to fill one of the center berths is a big plus.
Flanker Tommy Spinks showed up well in his first game in an Ayr jersey and with a couple of big players still to come back, they should go into Saturday’s BT Premiership opener against Boroughmuir at Meggetland with a fair bit of confidence.