Currie 16-13 Ayr: Currie win battle of rugby's 'New Firm' to edge closer to league title

THIS game might have been a battle of two powerful heavyweights with little room for manoeuvre, and finished with Currie edging it and placing one hand on the Scottish Hydro Premier One trophy, but it is also confirmed the arrival of the 'New Firm' in Scottish rugby.

Two clubs with no strong connections to the Borders or private schools have pushed through to the top of the club game and gripped it with a ferocity that none have been able to match over the past three years.

Currie won the league title in 2006-7 for the first time in their 40-year history and Ayr followed suit last term, albeit 112 years after the Millbrae club was formed. Ayr have had their moments flirting with the top, but that was decades ago. And the key this time is that the team moulded by Craig Redpath and developed by Kenny Murray, with growing support from a myriad of individuals around Ayrshire – they contributed significantly to a cracking near-2,000 crowd on Saturday – seem prepared to hang around for a while.

Coach Murray expects Currie to beat Glasgow Hawks next week and make sure of the title, but he admitted: "It is great for the club game to have two strong, different clubs at the top. We have brought players in to help find success, to inspire the youngsters we have in our area, and we are both seeing more numbers at schools and youth levels emerging which will be good for our futures.

"Our guys are bitterly disappointed today, but it has been a very long season and maybe this was a game too far. But with the cup win it has been a great season and Currie are a fantastic team, and deserve their success.

"But we will come back stronger and the great support we have at Ayr, as you saw here, will only build with the work that is being done in schools and with the youth teams."

After Ayr's cup success at Murrayfield the previous Saturday, however, it was the turn of the vanquished of Malleny to rise up and prove that they too were no flash-in-the-pan. The New Zealand pair of Willie Moala and Johnny Smith have been key to high scores and have been supported well by the eager Dougie Fife, the promising talent of Matthew Scott and a clinical back row.

Ally Donaldson, the Currie coach, said: "Nobody could argue we've been the best two teams this year and Ayr were the best last year. We have had a real intense rivalry over the last few years, and I think Ayr are doing a fantastic job to develop rugby in Ayrshire.

"Our under-15s and under-18s have won their Scottish Cup competitions and the second XV and third XV have been promoted this year, so now it's up to the first XV to deliver. We've had a great season, but we haven't won anything. Glasgow Hawks away is a difficult one to win so next week is going to be a hell of a battle."

On Saturday, Currie proved they had the temperament of winners. With two of the most physical, tactically astute and most well-organised sides meeting, this was never going to be an open, swashbuckling affair. Close-quarter battles, dogged wrestling, fierce tackles and thumping double tackles, and the odd kick downfield to release the pressure valve for a few, brief moments.

It was tight and even the method of scoring was almost identical. Both sides neglected early kicks at goal to drive lineouts, but both were held out and had to settle for penalties from Smith, the all-action Currie full-back, and Ayr stand-off Frazier Climo.

When Ayr got a break to score the first try in the 18th minute, Climo seizing on a Richard Snedden pass and kicking upfield, Moala struggling to pick up and Cammy Taylor doing just that and diving over, so Currie came back inside five minutes with a series of drives at the visitors' line before flanker Jamie Thomson touched down.

With defences snuffing out every bit of enterprise, it came down to the goal-kickers. Climo missed three, Smith just one and though Ayr led 13-10 at half-time, Smith had Currie back in front for the last ten minutes.

Ayr finished the game declining shots at goal because they knew a draw was of no use, and skipper Damien Kelly driving them on, but finding the Currie line blocked by dogged defence and their own indiscipline at key moments. Ayr had the mettle at Murrayfield, but Currie boasted a bit more of it at Malleny and only Glasgow Hawks now stand in their way of lifting a second title.

Scorers. Currie: Try: Thomson. Pens: Smith 3. Con: Smith. Ayr: Try: Taylor. Pens: Climo 2. Con: Climo.

Currie: J Smith; W Moala, C Kinloch, A MacMahon, D Fife; G White, R Snedden; J Cox, A Walker, A Hamilton, A Adam (capt), R Wilson, M Cairns, J Thomson, R Weston. Subs used: A Binikos, J Taggart.

Ayr: G Anderson; A Wilson, R Curle, M Stewart, C Taylor; F Climo, AJ Macfarlane; G Reid, P McArthur, S Fenwick, D Kelly (capt), S Sutherland, J Crossan, P Burke, A Dunlop, G Tippet. Subs: G Sykes, G Tippet, J Hunter.

Ref: A Macpherson. Att: 1,750.