Forrester can go out on a high
Alright, so now we are at the sharp end.
The regular BT Premiership has come out largely as expected with Watsonian possibly a surprise at edging out Heriot’s into the play- offs while at the other end, Hawks find themselves in the nightmare relegation play- off against either Edinburgh Accies or Jed while Boroughmuir and Hawick live to fight another day in the top league.
The Hawick win over Melrose sadly consigned Marr back to BT National One after some great performances by the Troon men in the Premiership, but that 38- 3 scoreline at Mansfield, albeit against a Melrose side weakened by players involved in the previous evening’s club international, does give pause for thought with regard to my ruminations of last week.
Should the Myreside mob go to the Greenyards and turn over Melrose in the play- off and Ayr come out on top in the other semi- final, the Premiership final would be at Millbrae.
So, what are the chances of Ayr beating a Currie side who have, in their three meetings so far this season, won one and lost one – in the cup – at Millbrae but lost away back in September on their own patch at Malleny Park?
It would be a foolish man who would call this one since so much will depend on the make- up of both sides but if Ayr have Tommy Spinks, Pete McCallum and Scott Sutherland back in the pack and Paddy Dewhirst and Stafford McDowall returning from duty with the Scotland U20 side, they could be formidable.
One of their problems will have to be sorted out in this one- off, who blinks first scenario, however, and that is the fact that Ayr have consistently failed to put teams away in the later stages of games or else found themselves not close enough to mount a late challenge.
Evidence of this can be seen in their accumulation of bonus points, both of the try and losing variety, which is the poorest in the Premiership with the exception of Marr.
If the scores are close enough to let Currie get back into the game or if they are so far adrift that the home side can close out the game, they could be in trouble.
It will come down to fine margins but, with the prize a chance in the final to send departing coach Calum Forrester off in a blaze of glory, the incentive is massive.