Emily and Robbie carry the Queen's Baton

Ayr RFC was represented in the Queen's Baton Relay on Friday as two of our top players acted as baton bearers as the relay to mark the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow made its way through South Ayrshire.

Ayr Ladies' and Scotland Women player Emily Irving and Ayr first XV player and Ayr Ladies coach Robbie Fergusson carried the baton through parts of their home county in front of enthusiastic crowds. 

Photos of both Emily and Robbie can be viewed on Ayr Ladies Facebook page.

James Malcolm becomes Glasgow EDP

Ayr's young front row player James Malcolm has been named as one of eight new Elite Development Players at Glasgow Warriors for the upcoming season.

James joined Ayr from GHA at the start of the 2013/14 campaign and, despite missing a large part of the season with a broken wrist, showed his promise in the games he played in.

He joins fellow Ayr youngsters D'arcy Rae and Fergus Scott as EDPs.

Read the full story here.

Pat and Gordy on the bench for Scotland

Pat MacArthur and Gordon Reid have been named on the bench for Scotland's third international of their summer tour. 

The match against Argentina in Cordoba on Friday kicks off at 8.10pm British time and features a much changed Scotland team as the tour moves on to its second leg and several players head home and others join up.

Here's hoping Pat and Gordy get the chance to add to their previous Scotland caps!

D'arcy and James start for Scotland U20s

Ayr's young front row duo D'arcy Rae and James Malcolm will start for Scotland under-20s in their Junior World Championships ninth place play-off against Argentina in New Zealand.

James is promoted from the bench to hooker and D'arcy keeps his place at prop after a great performance last week against Italy in which he scored a terrific try.  Also in the starting line-up is former Ayr player Gavin Lowe, who is at full-back.

Read the full story here.

Good luck to D'arcy, James, Gavin and all of the under-20s.

Family Fun Day on Sat 28th June

Looking for a way to watch the rugby and keep the family happy?

Following a fantastic season, the Ayr U18s are hosting a Family Fun Day to welcome the start of the summer holidays.  We would like to invite you all to join us on Saturday 28th June from 1pm at Millbrae.

Stuart Fenwick and some of our 1st XV will be joining the U18 players to run some fun training drills for the kids.  These will be open to kids of all ages and may even give the parents the chance to compete too!

If your kids have never been to the holiday camps at Ayr, come along and meet the coaches and sample the activities.  Holiday camps run through the summer at the club.

We will also have stalls including the Coconut Shy and the Ducks in the Pond, a bouncy castle, a set of stocks and some lovely wet sponges.....you can vote your coaches into the stocks! Chocolate Fountain, BBQ, Bottle Stall, Home Baking and a Tuck Shop.

At 4pm, Scotland kick off against South Africa so the action will move into the clubhouse to watch the game.  Hot food will be available to buy at half-time and there will be a couple of games too before the second half.

So, a full family day out at Millbrae. Really hope that you can join us.

- Ayr U18s
 

Getting muddy for a good cause

Robbie Fergusson rallied the Ayr RFC troops on Saturday morning to raise money for Cancer Research UK by taking to a muddy assault course.

Robbie was joined by his fellow first XV players Andrew Dunlop, Dean Kelbrick, Craig Gossman, Sylvain Diez, Stuart Fenwick, Cammy Taylor, Danny McCluskey and Ross Curle.  Former Ayr scrum-half Peter Jericevich also took part, as did first XV physio Helen McManus and several of Ayr Ladies and family and friends of the club. 

Everyone toughed it out under the watchful eye of new men's head coach Calum Forrester, and raised much-needed funds for a very good cause.

Well done to all who took part!

Photo courtesy of Alison Muir.



No B&I Cup for Ayr in 2014/15

It was announced this afternoon that Ayr, along with their fellow top four clubs Gala, Melrose and Heriot's, will not be taking part in the British and Irish Cup in the 2014/15 season.

Following changes to the structure of the competition, it was decided that the four clubs should withdraw in order to protect the integrity of the BT Premiership. 

The changes would see six games played before Christmas, when the majority of the Premiership games in Scotland take place, meaning a possible threat to the quality of the country's top flight club competition.

Ayr are the only Scottish club to have reached the quarter-finals of the B&I Cup and were the only team from north of the border to record a win in the 2013/14 competition, thumping Ulster Ravens 41-22 at Millbrae in December and holding on for a gritty 14-13 home win over Jersey in January.

Read the full story here.

Pre-season begins on Tue 8th July

Pre-season will begin on Tuesday 8th July and the players will be training at the Old Racecourse from 7pm.  We will train Tuesdays and Thursdays throughout July and Saturday 2nd August will be our first Saturday training session.

Our organised pre-season matches so far are:

Sat 9th August - GHA (A);

Sat 16th August - Jersey (A);

Sat 23rd August - Blaydon (H).

Sat 30th August - first league match.

Find the map of the Old Racecourse here.

 

Malcolm starts, Rae on bench for JWC

Ayr's James Malcolm will start at hooker for Scotland under-20s in their latest Junior World Championship fixture, whilst prop D'arcy Rae has been named on the bench.

The young Scots will take on Samoa on Friday after a bruising defeat by South Africa in their opening match.

Read the full story here.

Doneghan signs with London Scottish

Former Ayr player Ross Doneghan has signed a one-year contract with London Scottish.

The forward, who played in the back row for Ayr before switching to hooker, will join his brother Mike at the English Championship club after a year playing for Darlington, who he joined from Ayr last season.

Best of luck to Ross!

Read the full story here.