Ayr 34 - 15 Melrose: Ayr cut Melrose down to size

Published on Sunday 11 October 2009 23:26

FORGET the glamour of the Heineken Cup and sample the grit of Premiership Division One with no love lost between two old foes facing each other without any compromise.

To the accompaniment of a distant chainsaw lopping the limbs off a big old tree, Ayr did something similar to the visitors before rather naively standing back to admire the victory they had carved out instead of pressing for what would have been a very valuable bonus point.

At the kick-off the teams were locked together on 25 points behind Currie at the top of the table. Ayr came into the match still hurting from their first loss of the season to Dundee the previous weekend, while Melrose were on a freewheeling roll after three victories in a row.

The home side rose to the occasion, however, controlling the game through New Zealand stand-off Frazier Climo who racked up 19 points in the first half before sharing the scoring duties with a couple of second-half tries to build up an unassailable lead.

Melrose, by contrast, were just as intense at the breakdown and slick in running pretty patterns. The difference was they went nowhere, seldom getting over the gain line until the final few minutes when they went over for two tries in quick succession when the Ayr players had already, in their minds at least, entered the clubhouse bar.

Ayr coach Kenny Murray said: "We had a few strong words about the last five minutes when we just switched off because we had won the game, but for the first 75 minutes we played really well. We attacked in the first half with a bit of pace, a bit of width and a bit of aggression which we didn't have last week. Top-four games are always the hardest and I have to say I'm pretty pleased at the way the team reacted to the Dundee result.

"In the second half we showed a lot of very good defence when they came back at us as we expected them to do. I think they were on our line for about eight minutes solid but couldn't score. There are things we can work on to improve but we looked a lot better than we did last week and proved once again that you don't become a bad team overnight.

"We showed we are certainly capable of competing with Currie for the championship, we just need to be able to replicate performances like this and play for the full 80 minutes. Well be looking to maximise our points in our next three games as Stewart's Melville, West, and Selkirk before we take on Currie. We have a lot of guys coming back from injury and from international duty so competition is going to be high for places. There is a long way to go."

Ayr got off to a flying start with their pack dominating and Climo claiming his first penalty on eight minutes after a high tackle on Ross Curle by Melrose centre Jamie Murray. A second penalty followed before Climo added a simple try and conversion after intercepting a pass as Melrose tried to run their way out of their 22.

Climo might have been scoring the points but it was inside centre Mike Stewart, who had to limp off early in the game against Dundee, who was orchestrating Ayr's efforts. The only real chance Melrose had in the first half came when scrum-half Scott McCormick charged down a kick five metres from Ayr's line but the ball went dead before anyone could reach it. Instead, the play flowed down the pitch and Climo added a third penalty, and then a fourth after Melrose prop Richard Higgins was sin binned for a high tackle.

Melrose stand-off Scott Wight did get his team on the board with a penalty but their body language was already suggesting the game was beyond them. Two minutes into the second half Murray, lucky to have escaped a yellow card earlier, was penalised for a spear tackle on Ayr winger Cammy Taylor, again without the referee going to his pocket. However, it set up Climo for his fifth penalty.

Melrose then managed to produce a spell of sustained pressure without denting the Ayr defence and suffered from the inevitable break out that brought tries at the other end for Glasgow pro Hamish Mitchell and full back Dougie Steele.

Five minutes to go and job done Ayr thought, forgetting about the bonus point that was almost there for the taking.

But Melrose, mindful of the imminent wrath of coach Craig Chalmers who stood scowling on the touchline, snatched two tries through replacement scrum-half Robert Chrystie and flanker John Dalzeil.

Scorers: Ayr: Tries: Climo, Mitchell, Steele. Cons: Climo 2. Pens: Climo 5. Melrose: Tries: Chrystie, Dalzeil. Con: Wight. Pens: Wight.

Ayr: D Steele; S Manning, R Curle, M Stewart, C Taylor; F Climo, J Hunter; G Reid, S Adair, S Fenwick, D Kelly, S Sutherland, J Crossan, P Burke, G Tippett. Replacements: S Nimmo, B Hendry, J McCrossan, G Sykes, H Mitchell.

Melrose: F Thomson; C Anderson, J Murray, J King, B Allen; S Wight, S McCormick; K Cooney, L Gibson, R Higgins, B Runciman, S Johnson, J Dalziel, N McTaggart, G Dodds. Replacements: W Mitchell, A Gillie, G Elder, R Chrystie, A Dodds.

Referee: A Healey.