Currie 24 Ayr 12
Over the past few seasons the clashes between Ayr and Currie have thrown up some memorable encounters and Saturday was no different but it is one which will live longer in the Currie memories this time and one which Ayr would prefer to forget.
There is without doubt an expectation now among the Ayr support based on the success of the last two seasons and when the team fall below that then the fans feel let down and watching the side go from 8-7 down at half time to taking the lead before being blown away was particularly disappointing. The feeling has always been in recent times that if you put a bunch of Currie strips in front of an Ayr player, he would play with a broken leg but it was the other way round this time with Ally Donaldson’s side fired up and completely focussed on not only beating Ayr but winning so comprehensively that for the first time in a long time they would go away with nothing.
“We were pretty poor right from the kick-off” commented Ayr Director of Rugby Jock Craig “and only one team wanted it. The Currie committee as well as coach Ally Donaldson all agreed that was the best they had played all season and it is hugely disappointing that we didn’t rides to the challenge.”
“We had the chance in the first half to play a territory game and put the ball in the corners behind their back three but we didn’t do that but when Currie had the breeze behind them they used it pretty well.”
“Currie had the better of the line out and although I felt that the referee was a bit inconsistent, it doesn’t take away from the fact that we were lethargic and we are going to have to raise our game a lot from that sort of performance if we are gong to challenge for the title or do anything in the British and Irish Cup. Make no mistake, Melrose and Hawks might now be first and second in the table but Currie are back in the mix and will certainly have a big say in who wins the championship.”
Hayden Abercrombie put Currie ahead with a penalty in fifteen minutes then Andy McMahon scored a try which will come back to haunt the Ayr defence as the center made the break then fended off two tackles on his way to the line. That one stung and Ayr responded by shifting up a gear or two and camping in Currie territory with malicious intent which culminated in a swanky move by the pack as they followed the lead of Damien Kelly and Andy Dunlop to cut a swathe through he Currie forwards who were unable to stop a surge which saw the ball end up with Gordon Reid who sold an outrageous dummy-what is it with props these days?-and crashed over.
Ross Curle slotted the conversion and although that ended the scoring in the first half the pink and black contingent settled down for more to come after the break.
It seemed as though it was all going to plan when Mark Bennett latched onto a long floater of a pass to go over from the twenty two but the score did nothing to inspire the Ayr game and that was their final contribution to the scoreline having nudged ahead by 12-8
Bennett’s score came in the middle of a flurry of yellow cards with first Currie flanker Mike Entwhistle then Dean Stewart and finally Gordon Reid ending up in the sin-bin.
That enforced change of personnel inevitably has an impact on any game and Currie adapted the better to first their depletion then their player advantage as Abercrombie made Ayr pay for their misdemeanours with three penalties which took the home side to 17-12 and looking confident.
That confidence was boosted further when Mark Cairns took the ball at a Currie line out, the pack swarmed round him and drove over with lock Ryan Wilson the man to claim the touchdown. At that point, Ayr were not going to come back, Abercrombie’s conversion shut the door ensured that they wouldn’t and although Ayr suddenly realised their predicament and attempted to at least salvage a bonus point, the Currie defence and referee Neil Paterson, who did Ayr few favours and will have better games overall, denied them even that.
Ayr now have to re-group and travel north to Perthshire to face the Premier 3 side in the first round of their three cup pool matches before going into the final seven games of Premier 1 on November 13th.
The fixtures will be announced this week and we will comment on them then but Ayr have work to do if they are going to be serious players in the title race since, when the two big questions have been asked so far in away matches, at Hawks and at Currie, they have failed to deliver
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