Ayr 47 Selkirk 17

When these two sides met at the same stage last season, they were both harbouring hopes of great things in Scottish Hydro Premier 1. This time round, Ayr are second top with Selkirk second bottom but if there were points awarded for sheer guts, the Philiphaugh men would still be up there challenging again.

The difference between the sides was apparent in the opening minute when, from the kick off, the Selkirk pack were driven back at an alarming rate of knots. They cleared but only to Andy Wilson who got the ball away despite Alex Dunbar's crunching tackle and Grant Anderson's run deep into Selkirk territory ended with Damien Kelly crashing over for the opening try for Frazier Climo to convert.

Ayr relaxed allowing Selkirk to hit back from the restart, Rory Aglen charging down Climo's kick and winning the race for the touchdown with Mike Rutherford's conversion levelling the scores after only seven minutes. That was about as good as it got for Selkirk though as, try as they might, they were unable to prevent a supply of good ball reaching the pacey Ayr backs who suffered a late change when center Mark Stewart failed a late fitness test on the ankle which had troubled him since the Dundee match three weeks ago and as a result Dougie Steele started at full back with Grant Anderson moving to center.

Flanker John Crossan stuck for Ayr in ten minutes after Andy Dunlop had delicately prodded a beautifully weighted ball into his path then Kelly grabbed his second at the end of the first quarter, Climo's long miss pass releasing Andy Wilson whose inside offload found the big lock on his elbow for a superb support try then on the half hour came a beauty for Ayr.

Alex Dunbar and Ross Armstrong had been policing the midfield pretty well for Selkirk, particularly in shutting down Ross Curle's Christiano Ronaldo impersonations but when Climo shaped to throw a long pass, everyone fell for it, the No10 drifted smoothly into the gap and from fifty yards out, was uncatchable. Climo converted his own try then Mike Rutherford slotted a late penalty to take Selkirk in trailing 26-10, respectable enough and a fair reflection of the play.

Despite Selkirk dominating the lineout through Rory Aglen, Simon Willett and Neil Darling and a colossal amount of tidying up by No8 Scott Tomlinson, there was little Selkirk could do to stop a rampant Ayr cutting loose in the third quarter and a close quarter try for Kelly notched his hat trick. Ten minutes later, Curle set off on a mazy meander which ended with a perfectly timed off load to scrum half Jamie Hunter who scampered over then prop Gordon Sykes crossed for a try which was due reward for a hefty shift and with all three converted by Climo, the game well out of sight for Selkirk.

It was to their enormous credit then that they prevented Ayr from adding to their tally in the last twenty minutes and indeed with ten minutes to go had a try from Jim Thomson which was perhaps little consolation but did sum up the fighting qualities of the Philiphaugh side as well as highlighting a worrying lack of urgency in the home ranks.

This was confirmed by Ayr team manager Ronnie McKinnon.

"To be honest, 47-17 is not an acceptable scoreline in a game where, if we had taken our chances, we could have had another thirty points" he said. "We gave away a try in only seven minutes due to laziness in defence and although we came back from that the players still got a rocket at half time. You could see that they had taken that on board with a superb performance in the third quarter but then they lost momentum and that was when it became apparent that at times they seem to lack the killer instinct that was there last season."

"There were areas of our game which were awful and for the Ayr crowd to applaud, with heavy irony, when we eventually won our own line out ball was nothing short of embarrassing. It is an area we have to look at very closely and ask if the problem lies in the throwing, the jumping or the lifting, all of which are now integral parts the lineout. We also have to look at our tactics at the lineout and assess whether what we have agreed to do is actually being carried out on the pitch or whether the changes being made on the field are the wrong decisions for perhaps the right reasons."

"There were positives from the game in that we did have some excellent passages of play, our discipline improved, we collected another bonus point and we defended well although there are parts of that area too that we have to work on. From a playing point of view, John Crossan, voted Pinewood Restaurant man of the match, was outstanding with a fantastic workrate in turnovers, tackles and go forward so we do have things we can take from the game."

Ayr travel to Burnbrae on Saturday to face a West side who are currently third bottom of the table having won only two matches so far, the derby against Hawks at Old Anniesland and against Stewarts Melville at Burnbrae. They have shipped eighty three points in the last two games, losing to Selkirk at Philiphaugh then Currie at Malleny on Saturday so they will either be another easy mark for Ayr or, and the Millbrae men must be aware of this, they will lift their game as all teams have done against the current champions. West coach John Beattie would take particular delight in turning over a team he consistently, and wrongly, singles out as having a 'foreign legion' making up their ranks but the problem for Ayr remains-how do you make a successful side hungry? A great challenge for the coaching amd management team as the game agaisnt league leaders Currie looms at Millbrae on November 7th with the British and Irish Cup coming ever closer.

The Millbrae XV march on after a 19-6 win against Paisley sees them hold onto third spot in Scottish Hydro Regional West Division 1, five points behind Strathendrick and seven behind leaders Cumbernauld. This week the tries went to Dave Rodman, Kenny Stobie and David Courtney with Courtney converting two.

Ayr

D Steele; A Wilson, R Curle, G Anderson , C Taylor; F Climo, J Hunter; E Kalman, S Fenwick, G Sykes, D Kelly, S Sutherland, J Crossan, P Burke, A Dunlop Subs G Reid, H Mitchell, S Adair, G Tippett, S Manning