Sending-off ends Hawks comeback hopes

● Ayr storm to victory after red card and return to the top of the Premiership table

Victory in a controversial west-coast derby took Ayr back to the top of the BT Premiership. Pack power nearly always wins matches and, at Millbrae on Saturday, Ayr were on top up front, writes Matt Vallance.

But this particular West Side Story saw a minor character take centre stage after referee Keith Allen decided to do an Officer Krupke impression by laying down the law with dubious justification to deny the big crowd the grandstand finish they were anticipating.

Earlyinthesecondhalf,with Hawks having just clawed their way back from 3-17 to 13-17, he decided Brendan Mcgroarty’s tackle on Scott Sutherland was worthy of a red card.

And just as nobody at Scotstoun on Friday night bar referee Mathieu Raynal thought Matt To’omua’s tackle on Finn Russel was only a yellow – nobody at Millbrae on Saturday thought the Mcgroarty tackle was worth a red.

Mr Allen’s treatment of Hawks – he had earlier shown yellow to Grayson Hart – certainly helped Ayr.

Ayr scored 14 points while Hart was off and 22 following Mcgroarty’s permanent and Junior Bulumakau’s temporary absences.

At 15 v 15 it was 10-3 to Hawks, who, it has to be said,

0 Ayr’s Blair Macpherson breaks through the tackle of Hawks stand-off George Horne. didn’t help themselves by poor handling, which cost them, in theory, five tries.

“You cannot play Ayr with 13 or 14 men. I’m disappointed for the boys but the Ayr pack strangled us.

“However, we will come back from this reality check,” said Hawks’ coach Fin Gillies.

If Gillies was disappointed, Calum Forrester was delighted at seeing the flaws he spotted in recent weeks eradicated on the back of that dominant forward display.

But what really pleased the Ayr coach was his line-up at the finish, with teenagers at stand-off and inside centre, Archie Russell, the “veteran” midfielder at 21, and newlyarrived New Zealand-scot Ruaridh Mackenzie, son of former Selkirk and Scotland prop Gregor, scoring a fine debut try.

Mackenzie is at Ayr on a partnership agreement with the club and Warriors and, in 15 rampaging minutes, he looked every inch a New Zealand seven.

“I was pleased at how our younger players performed,” said a satisfied Forrester.

George Horne and Ross Curle exchanged early penalties before Ayr utilised Hart’s temporary expulsion to score tries through Blair Macpherson and George Hunter, both converted by Curle.

But, back to full-strength, Hawks bit back through tries from Andy Kirkland and Grant Stewart either side of the break.

Then came the Mcgroarty dismissal and Ayr went on to power away – Macpherson, skipper Grant Anderson, Mackenzie,thenmacpherson again for his hat-trick, plus a couple of conversions from 18-year-old Paddy Dewhirst, had Ayr five Premiership points better off and top of the table.

GALA HAWICK CURRIE BOROUGHMUIR 22 21

Neither side will have fully turned the corner in a disappointing season so far, but Gala’s third victory eased the pressure on the club and left Hawick propping up the Premiership, writes Atholl Innes.

“It was a very important win for us,” said Gala coach Chris Dalgleish. “I do not think that there are any better than our two wingers in the Premiership. Our back line looked dangerous. If we can play with some more composure at times, we can pick up a few more results.

“We scored our two tries early, and showed that we have to keep to that level. Conceding a try just before half-time hurt us a wee bit and Hawick came out strongly.”

Bruce Mcneil, the Hawick captain and who led by example,

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Currie coach Ben Cairns is an astute character who is not prone to exaggeration so when he declares himself satisfied, his players should feel happy with their efforts. They secured all five league points at home to a Boroughmuir side capable of cutting open opposition defences but short of their best on this occasion, largely due to the quality of Currie’s performance.

“I’m happy with large elements of that,” said Cairns. “I thought the determination in the contact area and the set piece gave us a really good platform. Defensively we were outstanding again.” was disappointed that his club picked up only a losing bonus point. “We let ourselves down as we needed to build momentum on our win a week earlier (against Currie).

“Unfortunately, we did not take the game by the scruff of the neck and did not focus on it as much as we should have done..”

Hawick were quickly on the back foot after Craig Robertson and Paul Hendry scored two tries, Gregor Hunter converting both for 14-0 lead – and it looked one-way traffic.

The visitors hit back with a try in the left-hand corner on the stroke of half-time by Wesley Hamilton, converted by Ali Weir, who had earlier kicked two penalties.

Michael Robertson and Ross Combe, who had been yellowcarded in the final play of the first half, after which Gala struggled, exchanged secondhalf tries while Weir and Hunter shared penalties.

The hosts led 17-5 at half-time after conceding an early try to Grant Mcconnell to claim touchdowns from Cammy Gray and Ben Robbins, both converted by Jamie Forbes, who also goalled a penalty.

Harvey Elms and Fergus Scott both dotted down to seal the bonus point and, although Thomas Gracie grabbed a fivepointer for the visitors, Reece Patterson forced his way over and Forbes converted to clinch a win that bolsters Currie’s bid for a play-off slot.

That also remains an objective for Boroughmuir, whose backs coach Jonny Else remains optimistic that his young side can deliver on its undoubted potential, saying: “It’s a bit of a bump in the road but we are not too downbeat.”