Edinburgh Accies 18 - 20 Ayr: Ayr do just enough to keep record

SCORERS:

Edinburgh Accies – Tries: Penalty, J Pecqueur. Con: R Bonner. Pens: R Bonner (2).

Ayr – Tries: Curle, Lowe, Fergusson. Con: Diez. Pen: Diez.

In fact, Ayr won more comfortably than the score suggests, shaking off a fatalistic lethargy that descended on them once they had three tries on the board and closing out the game over the last 15 minutes by  constantly hammering into the home defence and simply refusing to budge from the opposition 22.

But the failure to take a bonus point meant that the chasing group of Currie, Gala and Melrose, who all achieved maximum points, crept that little bit closer in what already seems to be an intensely competitive league.

“We should have been out of sight by half-time,” Ayr coach Kenny Murray admitted. “Three or four times in their 22 we  produced stupid passes and wrong decisions and that just killed us. Our game management was not particularly good.

“Accies put in a lot of graft and never chucked it for the whole game and we just needed to put them away when we had the chance.”

Murray’s interpretation was not disputed by Accies coach Simon Cross. “There is no doubt that Ayr are a quality side and played well enough to win the game,” he said. “I thought we  created the opportunities for us to win but we also made some silly mistakes that ultimately resulted in points for them and that was pretty tough to take.

“We are not the kind of side that can defend for massive amounts of time. We are small, fit and skilful and we need to have the lion’s share of possession in order to compete in these games, and it almost paid off today.

“Our goal line defence in the last minutes was excellent and I would have been heartbroken if we had not got the bonus point. I thought when we turned them over we might have got a length of the pitch breakaway but it was not to be.”

Ayr cruised into the lead with a try from veteran stand-off Ross Curle in four minutes and a  second from rookie winger Gavin Lowe four minutes later, the 17-year-old having the technique to dot the ball down just as he was bundled into touch.

The fast-paced pattern of the game was establishing itself at this point, with the big Ayr pack pummelling their Accies opponents and carrying the ball over short distances, while the nimble home forwards were putting the second man into every ruck to look for the steal that could be spread wide.

But it was Ayr who got the benefit of a turnover for their third try when Accies lock Greg Campbell coughed up the ball as he took it into contact near the halfway line. Ayr flanker Graham Fisken was on it in a flash to get behind the defensive line and pass to centre Robbie Fergusson, who went in at the corner.

All Accies had to show for their first-half efforts was a single Ruairidh Bonner penalty but it changed radically soon after the break when Accies winger Josh Pecqueur was prevented from rounding off a sweeping move when an offside player interfered with the touchdown and at the same time Curle caught him with a crude neck- high tackle. The referee went under the posts for the penalty try and Curle went in the bin for the reckless tackle.

Ayr scrum-half Silvain Diez kicked a simple penalty to stretch the visitors’ lead but it was against the run of play.  Moments later Pecqueur got his try, taking the scoring pass from full back Ruairidh Young after he collected a crash ball and burst over the gain line. Bonner missed the conversion but added a penalty while Ayr were still short-handed to make the score 18-20 as the game entered its final quarter.

Ayr, realising they needed to step it up, took control, confining the home side to their 22 as they ran down the clock. It was a master class on how to contain a still pretty potent threat. Ayr kept the ball tight, rarely moving it more than a couple of metres from the pack and ensuring that Accies had to commit bodies to every breakdown. Twice Ayr got over the line – the second time when  No 8 Callum Forester produced a hydraulic-style hand-off to push most of the Ayr team out of  the way – but the ball could  not be grounded. Full back Grant Anderson almost made it through a desperate defence with a slanting run. But then, in injury time, Accies finally regained possession and made the breakout, knowing they would have to go the full length of the pitch. They reached halfway but it wasn’t far enough and the game was lost.

Edinburgh Accies: R Young; J Pecqueur, A Blair, I Berthinussen, S Pecqueur; R Bonner, A Black; A Allan, C Black, L Niven, G Campbell, T Drennan, D Teague, H Watson, C Reid. Subs: M Liness, C Murray, A Findlater, J Adams, E Bonner.

Ayr: G Anderson; C Gossman, R Fergusson, R Dalgleish, G Lowe; R Curle, S Diez; N Cox, H Wisneski, G Hunter, C White, S Sutherland, G Fisken, A Dunlop, C Forrester. Subs: D Rae, S Fenwick, R Doneghan, N Campbell, C Taylor.

Referee: G Gordon