Precious win for Ayr but few diamonds on display

Listening to the two coaches’ post-match thoughts on events at Balgray, it was far from clear which side had won.

Hawks’ Fin Gillies was chipper and hailed his players’ bravery despite the heavy defeat. “A brave show, on another day we might have won,” he said.

Ayr’s Peter Murchie, in contrast, was distinctly downbeat. “We did what we had to do but I am frustrated. Credit to Hawks but we were sloppy, particularly in the second half,” he said.

Perhaps but, for all Hawks’ brave resistance, Ayr still posted a club-record eighth straight bonus-point win, kept hold of the Bill Mclaren Shield and also their healthy lead at the top of the Tennent’s Premiership.

They got there courtesy of four first-half tries, two from Robbie Nairn and one each from Steven Longwell and Grant Anderson, pictured.

The third try came shortly after Hawks’ James Couper was yellow-carded. No sooner was Couper back than skipper Gary Strain claimed possession of the naughty step, with Anderson taking advantage of his absence with Ayr’s bonus-point try, converted by Frazier Climo for a 22-0 lead. Hawks defied Ayr for over half an hour of the second half, holding out until the 71st minute before Paddy Kelly scored and Climo converted. The home side’s resilience was rewarded in the final minute of the match, when Cammy Symes grabbed an unconverted consolation score.

We leave the final word to Gillies – with a bit of help from John Denver: “Some days are diamonds, some days are stones – and today, we had a few diamonds among the stones,” he said.