It wasn't just Ayr's new shirts that were luminous on Saturday afternoon at Millbrae. Whilst the sun wasn't exactly out, the rain had cleared - for the first half at least - and the home side got off to a bright start against Cornish Pirates in round two of the British and Irish Cup.
The match started at a gallop, with Ayr stand-off Ross Curle looking for an early interception and the Pirates sniffing around the home 22 with intent. It was the visitors who gave away the first penalty five minutes into the game and Curle summarily kicked it. 3-0.
Ayr displayed some great ambition, with excellent running and handling from Curle and outside centre Robbie Fergusson to shift proceedings to the five-metre line. The ball travelled through the backs before finding the hands of flanker Peter McCallum but the Pirates' tough defence stopped him centimetres from the line. It was quickly fired out to the backs again and wing Craig Gossman spotted a gaping hole to shoot through for Ayr's first - and sadly only - try at eight minutes. Curle converted. 10-0.
It wasn't long before the Pirates replied, with stand-off Angus Sinclair wriggling over under the posts, despite the ball looking like it had wobbled its way there unaided. He converted his own score to bring the visitors within three points. 10-7.
The Penzance-based team cranked things up a notch or two and were showing exceptional speed with ball in hand. Curle was again on the look-out for an interception, but this time the referee adjudged his efforts to be cynical and sin-binned him, much to the confusion of the large crowd.
Two minutes later, the referee made yet another decision to baffle the fans when he awarded the Pirates a penalty try which Sinclair converted. 10-14.
The game still seemed within Ayr's grasp, despite being down to fourteen men and the Pirates beginning to out-muscle the forwards. Whilst Gossman wasn't getting a lot of ball, he was more than making his presence felt with some crunching tackles, as was Glasgow Warriors' James Eddie.
Ayr captain and full-back Grant Anderson gave the crowd something to cheer about as he danced along the touchline with Fergusson and wing Richard Dalgleish in support, but it came to nothing. Ayr's efforts in the scrum were also proving fruitless, as the forwards were continually shoved back by the Pirates' noticeably larger players.
The line-out wasn't going particularly well either, although second rows Scott Sutherland and Graham Williamson along with number eight Callum Templeton were managing to disrupt the Pirates' throw-ins at times. But when they did steal the ball, it wasn't long before the visitors turned it over.
The final say before half-time went to the Cornish Pirates, with Sinclair kicking a penalty. 10-22.
Ayr got stuck in at the start of the second half, with some solid work from prop George Hunter, Eddie and Sutherland and nifty interplay between Fergusson and his partner in the centre Dean Kelbrick. There were a few heated exchanges between the sides, with one tussle resulting in Hunter having his shirt pulled off.
Ayr, through their own errors and the Pirates' higher level of play, couldn't get anywhere. They held off the Pirates for the first fifteen minutes, but the writing was on the wall after number eight Joel Conlon ran in another try for the visitors. Sinclair got the extras. 10-29.
Evans got himself on the score sheet at sixty-two minutes, with replacement Keiran Hallett adding the conversion. 10-41.
It was becoming miserable viewing for the home crowd, especially with the rain falling hard. Ayr gained a few chances to get a score, but the visitors' superior defensive efforts couldn't be overcome.
Keiran Goss crossed the whitewash for the Pirates, but Hallett couldn't convert. 10-46.
Ayr didn't give up though, with a brilliant break from replacement hooker Stuart Fenwick getting the crowd roaring, but he was off at such a speed that no-one could keep up with him and he was turned over.
The final try went to inside centre Tom Hendrickson, with Hallett converting. 10-53.
EH
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