Dundee High 18-29 Ayr: Russell stars in hard-fought win

AYR will be taking nothing for granted in the second half of the premiership season after being pushed all the way by a Dundee side who looked anything but a bottom-of-the-league side. “We were happy to win at a venue which has always been a difficult place for us to come,” said Kenny Murray the Ayr coach.

His opposite number Ian Rankin said: “I was disappointed for the guys. They deserved to take something out of the game. It was a huge improvement on our inept second-half performance at Aberdeen last week.” While tries make games more entertaining, it is kicks which win matches and, in teenage stand-off Finn Russell, Ayr have one for the future. The 19-year-old had a haul of 19 points in a display reminiscent of the early days of Gala’s Chris Paterson. Russell looked the part, running the show with the aplomb of the former Scotland ace.

The tacky surface made for hard going, though there was much good rugby with each side scoring two tries. Ayr led 13-6 at the break, scoring the only try of the half when full-back Grant Anderson cashed in on a poor clearance kick to send Callum Anderson over. Dundee lifted their game in the second period, scoring through a pulverising run from winger Andy McLean, followed by a chip from centre Jack Steele for fellow centre Harry Duthie to score a try converted by Jamie Urquhart.

At 18-16 up, Dundee looked set to spring a surprise, only for Russell to kick two more penalties before adding a conversion to flanker Andy Dunlop’s late try.

Scorers: Dundee – Tries: McLean, Duthie. Con: Urquhart. Pens: Urquhart (2). Ayr – Tries: Forrester, Dunlop. Cons: Russell (2). Pens: Russell (5).

Dundee: J Urquhart; A McLean, H Duthie, J Steele, S Walker; B Laursen, A Dymock; G Robertson, N Dymock (c), A Brown, A Linton, R Hawkins, C Cumming, I Wilson, D Levison. Subs used: S Longwell, M Nelson, M Stubbs, R McIver, R Taylor.

Ayr: G Anderson; C Taylor, R Ferguson, R Dalgliesh, C Gossman; F Russell, P Jericevich; D Mutamangira, H Wisnewski, G Hunter, N Campbell, S Sutherland, C White, A Dunlop, C Forrester (c). Subs used: D Young, D Rae, G Fisken, R Doneghan, D Kelbrick.

Referee: A Macpherson.