Glasgow Hawks 7- 36 Ayr: Gossmans in the thick of it

Ayr put their West rivals to the sword, with this six-tries-to-one win, along the way clinching a home semi-final in the end of season '¨BT Premiership Play-Offs.

Kerr Gossman scored a try but his brother was man of the match

But, on a cold day at Old Anniesland, this was far from vintage rugby. To be fair to the players, though, their fingers must have been frozen in the Arctic wind.

Ayr survived a strong Hawks’ opening, going in front in 14 minutes, when Danny McCluskey hacked a Hawks’ dropped ball downfield, Man of the Match Craig Gossman linked, to put Archie Russell over.

David Armstrong scored off a sniping run from scrum ball in 25 minutes, Frazier Climo converting, but, with Ross Curle collecting his near-mandatory yellow card in this fixture, that ended the first-half scoring, with Ayr leading 12-0.

The arrival of Paddy Kelly at the break gave Hawks some momentum, but Ayr saw out Curle’s yellow card, then took advantage when the home side’s Kerr Gossman was yellow carded, for a high tackle on elder brother Craig.

Within a minute Curle scored a try after good work by Gregor Henry, skipper Pete McCallum and Craig Gossman, Climo converting. Craig Gossman was then called back as he touched down, the final pass from McCallum being called forward.

However, in 65 minutes, roles were reversed as Craig Gossman put the skipper over for Ayr’s bonus-point try.

Kerr Gossman, back on the field, finally put Glasgow Hawks on the scoreboard with a try converted by Hagan Schulte, but, in the final five minutes, replacement Jamie Bova and McCluskey added further tries for Ayr, with Climo goaling the Bova score and hitting the post after the final McCluskey effort.