Ayr's knockout hopes rest on wins

SCOTTISH champions Ayr are targeting two wins from their next two home matches to give themselves a fighting chance of making the knockout stages of the British & Irish Cup, starting with today's encounter with Birmingham & Solihull (4pm).

And the men from Millbrae can go into the home clash with confidence given that they defeated Rotherham in their last match in the competition 28-13, plus the fact that they are unbeaten in their last nine domestic league and cup ties.

Ayr head coach Kenny Murray knows that victory today, followed up by another over Pontypridd in a fortnight's time, would leave his side well placed to progress from Pool D.

He said: "We are looking forward to our third outing in the British & Irish Cup and hope to build on the success against Rotherham in November. We must see an improvement on the performance against Musselburgh last Saturday.

"The tournament is a step above Premier One and challenges players and coaches in all aspects of the game. Against Rotherham we proved that we could compete at this level and are now looking to achieve two home wins."

Murray welcomes back skipper Damien Kelly to the pack after his club international exploits, while in Mark Stewart's absence a backline reshuffle sees Jamie Hunter moving to stand-off with Frazier Climo filling in at centre.

Meanwhile, Heriot's go into tomorrow's Valentine's Day clash with Neath at Goldenacre (2pm) looking for their first win in the event. They have delayed finalising their squad due to a number of injury concerns.

Dave McCall, Rory Hutton and Jonny Alston are definitely out, while centre Richard Mill is touch and go due to an injury picked up this week.

Ayr team (to play Birmingham & Solihull in the British & Irish Cup today, 4pm, Millbrae): D Steele; A Wilson, R Curle, F Climo, J McClung; J Hunter, AJ McFarlane; G Reid, P McArthur, S Fenwick, S Sutherland, D Kelly, A Dunlop, G Tippet, P Burke. Subs: E Kalman, S Adair, G Sykes, S Nimmo, J Crossan, C Taylor, S Manning.