Climo drives clinical Ayr to victory in clash of the titans
● Veteran scores 18 points to beat Melrose
0 Blair Macpherson, with the ball, scored a try in Ayr’s victory, in his first outing as captain for the league leaders. been successful.
Ayr’s two late scores emphasised their victory but, until then, the outcome was in serious doubt as the visitors went down fighting.
“We had chances to win but, while we didn’t take ours, Ayr certainly took theirs,” said Melrose coach Rob Chrystie. “That was the difference, they were clinical.”
But Chrystie was far from downcast, citing the big effort his younger men put into the game, particularly Finlay Scott, who is dual-registered by Melrose and Jed, and who had a fine second half as a replacement for Russell Anderson, who, along with Ruaridh Knott, was one of two key visitors who had to leave the field injured.
the four they had scored in the first 40.
“We’ve been in the play-offs every year, so we expect to be in the hunt for them again,” Cairns said. “They had the elements in the first half and we coughed up the ball too easily. We rectified that towards the end of the first half, and certainly in the second half our decision-making in and around contact was spot on.”
Currie certainly had a fair wind behind them in the second half, but Hawks coach Finlay Gillies did not regard that as any sort of excuse.
Ayr’s Peter Murchie is certainly enjoying coaching. “We are in a good place,” he said. “We had spells under the cosh, but we took our tries well and I was very pleased with how our young pack played. This was another huge test for us but we came through to keep our great run going.”
While Murchie praised his youngsters, it was old-stager Frazier Climo, pictured, who again pulled the strings for Ayr. He scored 18 points, his line-kicking was again immense and he also brought his young backs into the game to good effect.
Blair Macpherson had a successful first outing as captain, while Pat Mcarthur enjoyed his second Ayr debut off the bench – 14 years after his first.
Ayr led all the way. Grant Anderson and Climo scored
“That wasn’t a 47-point wind,” he said. “I’ve never seen them throw in the towel like that before. We’re going to have to do some soul-searching this week. We just need to figure out what changed.”
The Currie pack included professionals Greg Peterson, Luke Crosbie and Tevita Tameilau, making his first appearance in Scotland since signing for Glasgow Warriors. Opensidethomasgordonwas the most impressive home forward, however, while the distribution of stand-off Gregor Hunter was outstanding. first-half tries, with Climo goaling both and adding a penalty, while Jason Baggot scored an unconverted try for 17-5 at the break.
Melrose took advantage of Rory Hughes lying injured in midfield, making numbers count for a Patrick Anderson try, converted by Baggot, before Climo put Stafford Mcdowall through for a try which he converted to stretch the home lead to 12 points.
Then, with Ayr skipper Macpherson on the naughty step, a Bruce Colvine try pulled Melrose back to only seven behind, only to see the captain return and score the first of Ayr’s two late tries – Gregor Henry got the other – to emphasise their superiority.
There were also yellow cards for Hughes in the first half and Melrose’s Struan Hutchinson in the second. Phil Smith was a mightily relieved head coach of Heriot’s after watching his side squeak home in a tense climax to an always enthralling encounter, writes Martin Laing.
“In the first half we only had two bits of possession and we scored two tries. But in the second half we couldn’t get enough. We had a dysfunctioning set piece and we just didn’t get it right basically.
“Stirling are playing well and beating good teams so to come here and pick up a win is something we’ll remember come the end of the season.”
This was a curious affair, decided in some measure by the wind gusting down the pitch.heriot’sbenefitedfrom having it at their backs in the first 40, after which they led 12-5 thanks to tries by Iain Wilson and Ross Jones, the latter converting his score.
In the end they scored 54 points and Lawrie said: “We wanted to take momentum from the win against Boroughmuir into this game and I thought we did that.
“Some of our scores were well-worked, but for me our speed and organisation in defence were key.”
Hawick head coach George Graham said: “Once again I felt that we lacked intensity in defence and fell off too many tackles.
“Against a side like Watsonians you just can’t do that. We have to start taking what the possession in the early part of the second period, and took the lead when Craig Keddie powered over.
However, a penalty by Belgian international Vincent Hart kept Accies in the game and when Spencer claimed his second try to nudge the hostsintoaone-pointadvantage, it looked as if the home side might break their Tennent’s Premiership duck.
It was not to be and a strong finish by Boroughmuir produced the penalty which Cannie calmly stroked over to snatch the win.
The narrow defeat bonus for Accies was their first since returning to the top flight this season. While that was of some consolation for coach Derek O’riordan, he has an eye on a longer-term project at the club.
“We want to build a squad and a system that can go on and win the Championship in its first year,” he said. “On this evidence, it remains a work in progress, but it is happening.”
County had enjoyed the lion’s share of possession and territory but were plagued by an inability to convert pressure into points until late in the half when Andrew Mclean crossed.
After the break, Stirling capitalised on slack defending by Heriot’s as Euan Macgarvie slalomed through their ranks for a fine individual score. County then took the lead for the first time when Macgarvie again crossed the line, Jonny Hope goaling the extras.
Heriot’s hit back in 63 minutes when Charlie Simpson breached the Stirling defence, Jones converting to restore a narrow lead that they held on to.
Stirling head coach Eddie Pollock was sanguine at the close, reflecting that his young side deserved a better outcome. “We played the game exactly right. We got our scores quickly in the second half and got ahead but it was disappointing to let them score again.”
we’re doing in training into games.”
For Watsonians, Fraser Renwick led the way with a hat-trick of tries while Darcy Graham, Connor Boyle, Jamie Hodgson, Gregor Nelson and James Miller also crossedandleemillarkicked seven conversions.
Dom Buckley scored two tries for Hawick with Kyle Brunton and Lee Armstrong kicking the extras, but it looks like being a long season for them while skipper Shawn Muir went off with a knee injury.