Canny Ayr master conditions to control crucial clash

big boys at the pit face, Melrose did not abandon their adventurous spirit, with flanker Grant Runciman latching on to an Ayr fumble on his own team’s line in the seventh minute to launch a scything counter-attack which ended with scrum half Murdo MacAndrew wriggling over at the other end of the park.

Ayr kept in touch with two Climo penalties and when they snatched the lead with the only points of the second half, it was another fine demonstration of how to play rugby in the rain. With Nick Beavon in the sin bin, the hosts kept their patience for nine minutes with a series of close-range assaults on the Melrose line, before picking the right moment to unleash Cammy Taylor on the right wing with some slick handling.

“The players deserve full credit for running that play because they identified Melrose had taken the winger off,” said Forrester. “In those conditions, a lot of guys might have kept the ball tucked up their jumper and kept it tight, but they were willing to have a crack.”

Melrose coach Rob Chrystie was relatively sanguine about the setback.

He said: “They made less mistakes than us and didn’t give away as many penalties so they deserved the win – but we’ll learn from it. In the last 10 minutes we had three really good opportunities in their 22 but Ayr defended really well and survived it.”

Meanwhile, third-placed Glasgow Hawks moved to within a point of Melrose with a 30-19 win at Heriot’s. Watsonians kept themselves in touch at the top of the table with a 26-18 win at home to Currie, Hawick picked up their first victory of the season with a 36-26 scoreline against Boroughmuir at Mansfield Park and Stirling County got back to winning ways with a 31-18 success over Gala.