DOUGIE ROSS @ Millbrae
AYR took full advantage of Hawks losing and Melrose’s match being postponed by running six tries past an off the pace Boroughmuir side. The home side wasted no time in revenging their early season defeat to the Edinburgh outfit with a try in the first two minutes, flanker Will Bordill breaking the line to score his first of the afternoon.
It looked like it was going to be a very long day for Boroughmuir when Ayr’s tighthead prop Steven Longwell bundled over in the eighth minute to put the home side two tries to the good. Ayr were looking comfortable in the early stages and were playing with a freedom that you only get from being 14-0 up.
Returning fly-half Frazier Climo saw his crossfield kick bounced out of the hands of opposition winger Grant McConnell and into the possession of fleet footed Ayr centre Archie Russell, who did not have to be asked twice to finish the mix of skill and good fortune.
It was not until roughly the 20-minute mark that Boroughmuir managed to get their heads into the game and unfortunately by then the contest was as good as over at 21-0.
Bporoughmuir’s fly-half Chris Laidlaw decided that ‘anything Climo can do I can do better’ and put over a beautifully deft kick behind an on rushing defensive line where winger Jordan Edmunds found himself with the ball in his hand and all the space in the world to score his try.
A minute before half time and Climo was at again for Ayr, kicking into no man’s land for winger Danny McCluskey to kick on and touch down.
Boroughmuir went into the second half with a mountain to climb with the score at 28-7 and with little sign of things changing. The away team did themselves no favours at the start of the second half with Aubrey Mncube getting sent to the bin for not releasing at the breakdown.
With half an hour to go Climo, whose game management had been sublime at times, was taken off as a precautionary measure. He will be an important player for Ayr if they are to achieve their full potential this season.
In the 57th minute, Boroughmuir managed to make the rare spell of pressure they were enjoying pay off when flanker Matt Walker pushed over for the try.
The wet conditions were clearly effecting both the players and the ball with a lot of passes slipping through overly zealous hands.
With fifteen minutes left to play Ayr put the game beyond a shadow of a doubt when they burst through a sleeping Boroughmuir pack for Robert McAlpine to score straight from line-out.
The visitors responded within a few minutes of the restart when winger Edmunds went over for his second of the match.
The game was now done and all that was left for Ayr to do was to shut their Edinburgh opponents out and deny them a losing bonus point, which they did.
On the stroke of full time, the home team got their sixth and final try of the game which was flanker Bordill’s second.
Ayr head coach Callum Forrester was happy with the win and lot of the performance but admits there are places needing tightened up: “I’d say we’re still leaking points too easily. We put ourselves in a position to finish Boroughmuir off but fair play to them, they came back, had a crack. From our point of view we hope to set higher standards than.”
Boroughmuir head coach Peter Wright was very honest about his team’s performance on the day: “I think our first 10/15 minutes were the worst 10 to 15 minutes we’ve ever played and Ayr took their chances and they scored the points. Really disappointed with the performance. The good stuff was good, and the poor stuff was very poor.”
All and all, a big performance from Ayr who will be hoping that they are hitting form at the best possible time.
For Boroughmuir this was always going to be a tough game but they will hope to bounce next week and do Ayr another favour against play-off rivals Glasgow Hawks.
Teams –
Ayr: G Anderson; D McCluskey, A Russell, R Curle, C Gossman; F Climo, D Amrstrong; G Hunter, D Young, S Longwell; R McAlpine, S Sutherland, B Macpherson, W Bordill, P McCallum. Subs used: L Anderson, D Sears-Duru, C Stevenson, J Bova, S McDowall.
Boroughmuir: G Cannie; G McConnell, R Kerr, M Hare, J Edmunds; C Laidlaw (C), N Fowles; D Robertson, T King, T Gracie; C Atkinson, M Tweddle, A Mncube, M Walker, C Keddie. Subs used: S Clark, M Henry, R Woodland, D Steele, A Cox.
Referee: S Turnbull
Scorers –
Ayr: Tries: Bordill 2, McCluskey, Russell, McAlpine, Longwell; Cons: Climo 4, Curle 2.
Boroughmuir: Tries: Edmunds 2, Walker; Cons: Laidlaw 2.
Scoring sequence (Ayr first): 7-0, 14-0, 21-0, 21-7, 28-7 (h-t|) 28-14, 35-14, 35-19, 42-19.
Man-of-the-Match: It was a day for big runs close to the breakdown and no one did that better than Ayr’s tighthead Steven Longwell who even bagged himself a rare try.
Talking Point: How different the game could have been if both teams had turned up for the first 15 minutes. Boroughmuir’s utter lack of sharpness will be extremely concerning for coach Peter Wright.