West of Scotland 26 Ayr 34

As has happened so often in Scottish Hydro Premier 1 this season, the opposition raised their game to take on the champions and at Burnbrae, West kept themselves in the game to the end before Ayr could safely claim their ninth win form ten starts.

Apart from the quality of the opposition, West coach John Beattie admitted of hiss team 'This side are working their butts off to stay in Pemier 1'.

With last weeks hat trick hero Elliot McLaren and Gordon Bulloch in the front row and Guy Perrett at lock, West were always going to be pretty formidable up front but they started in expansive mode with the ball being thrown about merrily. Ayr bided their time and after ten minutes struck twice in three minutes. Mark Stewart was the catalyst for both scores, first breaking a couple of tackles to put lock Scott Sutherland in then again from ruck ball making space for Ross Curle to exploit.

Frazier Climo converted both but West tightened up their game and with Ayr the back foot from some pretty physical driving, scrum half Murray McConnell scooted over for Mike Sim to open the West account and when Climo skewed a couple of penalties, it looked as though West might indeed do some damage. Climo it was who did the damage however, his break splitting the home defence to put Paul Burke over for the third try. Climo converted but it was former Ayr favourite James Eddie, now a draft pro with West, got them on the front foot again with some pretty hefty surges but the Ayr defence held until first half injury time when Bulloch crashed over from a short penalty.

After he restart, play continued until Climo was spotted back downfield inert on the pitch and after the immediate attention of physios and medics, was stretchered off and whisked to hospital. This could have unnerved Ayr because another Eddie foray into the Ayr twenty two saw the flanker put Jamie Kerr in for try number three and pull West back to 21-19 then Burke was binned - is it him or the referees?- and with the game finely poised, nerves started to show on both sides but Ayr calmed things down after Sim panicked on a chip and chase and Curle, displaying his all round talent, took over the kicking as well as the stand off slot and banged over the penalty.

Into the final quarter, the outstanding Glen Tippett grabbed his try and the bonus point, three minutes later McLaren claimed his try after some discussion among the officials and Ben Wright added the conversion to the bonus point and at 29-26 it was still anybody's game until ten minutes from the end when Ayr broke out and wing Andy Wilson, making a welcome return to the ranks after injury, raced over for the clinching try. West did have a final chance to secure a losing bonus they certainly deserved but Sim pulled the penalty wide.

"When we are away from home, we aim for the win then the bonus and that is what we did here" said coach Kenny Murray "and don't forget that last season when we won here we didn't score a try and today we had five."

"They had us going back a times but we did better in the scrums although we had a couple of defensive lapses and we have to have a look at our onfield discipline because we are giving away too many penalties. Again we took our foot of the gas and let them into the game because when we played good rugby we were miles ahead of them."

"We have avoided talking about the game against Currie so that the side would not lose their focus but now we can look forward to what will be a huge game for both sides in which they will be hot favourites coming to Millbrae off an outstanding run of form. Currie are a good all round side, physical with good ball carriers and excellent finishers. However if anyone can beat hem it is Ayr and it will be interesting to see if having had four home games on the trot will work for them or against them."

The word on Ayr's prolific No10 was that Climo's injury was not serious and the trip to the hospital had been a precaution but there is no certainty that he will line up against Currie. "Ross Curle did well when he moved into stand off and Grant Anderson came up to center and they did a good job" said the coach "so we will be monitoring Frazier closely during the week and won't make any decisions till late on. We hope to have Andy Dunlop back as well as Ed Kalman and Hamish Mitchell because this is going to one physical game and we have to stand toe to toe and give absolutely no quarter because the one pack in the league who can match them is Ayr."

"We are undoubtedly a big game team and they don't come any bigger than this one on Saturday."

It promises to be yet another memorable contest between two sides who, in the opinion of Ayr's Director of Rugby Jock Craig, can look back on the epic and ferocious 3-3 draw four seasons ago and trace from then the domination the two sides have had in Premier 1.

The build up to the game will be a series of mind games between Murray and the wily Ally Donaldson who has been such a vital factor in the success of the Malleny Park outfit but come 3pm on Saturday, it will be all about what happens on the Millbrae pitch. The outcome will have a major impact on the destination of the Premier 1 title and it would be a brave, or foolish, man who would predict the outcome except to forecast that not one player on either side will have much left in the tank after eighty minutes of high octane rugby. (highlights will be shown on www.scottishrugbytv.com)