Ayr 30 - 25 Boroughmuir: Ayr see off battling ‘Muir to reach third consecutive final

The 20 Boroughmuir players used, no less so than their 19 Ayr opponents and the three match officials combined to make this a match to remember.

Ayr’s forward effort was absolute, matched by the commitment of their young ‘Muir opponents; Sepp Visser and Stevie Wilson zoomed home for wonderful long-range tries for the Edinburgh outfit, while Ross Curle’s involvement in making, then scoring Ayr’s opener was enough to earn him man of the match honours – because the press corps couldn’t decide which Ayr forward deserved the honour most. It was superb, with Andy McMenemy and his touch judges entering the spirit of things; one or two of the young whistler’s uses of the advantage law were inspired and helped keep the game flowing.

So, no negatives then? Step forward winning coach Kenny Murray. “Our kicking game let us down; we didn’t turn the screw after a good first 20 minutes; some of our defence was poor”, he thundered in a ‘taking the gloss off a win’ dissection of a game which was of Alex Ferguson, Jim McLean, or Jim Telfer standard.

Then he cheered up: “But the main thing about a semi-final is that you win it; we exerted forward control in what became a war of attrition and three finals in a row cannot be bad.”

Opposite number Fergus Pringle was naturally disappointed in defeat; but, big Fergus can always treat Kipling’s twin disasters both the same. He said: “I’m proud of the boys, they gave everything, we scored some good tries and our younger players, including our three 18-year-olds, will have learned from this defeat. If we can find a clinical edge when it’s needed, as Ayr did here, we will not be far away”.

Two Robbie Fergusson penalties and his conversion of that super Curle try had Ayr 13-0 up before ‘Muir had found their bearings. Then Ally Warnock goaled a penalty and, from the re-start, Stevie Wilson scorched back for an unconverted try and 13-8.

Stuart Fenwick crashed over before Alex Henderson finished off a three-man overlap; Warnock converted then kicked his second penalty and at 18-18 at the interval, the big crowd looked forward to a pulsating second-half.

They were not disappointed. To huge cheers from the home faithful, Denford Mutamangira forced his way over, Fergusson converted, but when the 18-year-old stand off failed with a touch-seeking penalty, ‘Muir ran the ball back and Sepp Visser’s 70-metre sprint for the try enabled Warnock to again tie-up the scores.

But, ominously for ‘Muir, Ayr’s pack was building-up a big head of steam. From the resumption, Curle carried play back to the ‘Muir “red zone” where Jono Willis burrowed over for the match-winning try.

Five points up, Ayr proceeded to play keep-ball to secure their Murrayfield meeting with Gala.