Ayr 26 Watsonians 5

The biggest worry all week for Ayr coach Kenny Murray was how to keep the momentum going between the crucial Scottish Hydro Premier 1 Currie game last weekend and the adventure into the British and Irish Cup next Sunday with the Premier 1 clash with struggling Watsonians sandwiched in between.

There may be a consensus that Ayr are a big game team, raising their game to suit he occasion as they did last week in the top of the table clash with Currie. What someone should point out to them is that to the opposition, facing Ayr is a big game, particularly if they are in the relegation zone like Watsonians, and they are going to raise their game accordingly.

That approach was apparent after fourteen minutes on Saturday at Millbrae when Ayr took a 12-0 lead and looked as though they were going to coast for the next sixty eight.

Scott Sutherland had opened the Ayr account in two minutes with a try which epitomised what a dangerous ball carrier he can be then in fourteen minutes, Frazier Climo fielded a Watsonians clearance and showed how the phrase 'there is nothing on' simply doesn't apply when he is on the ball. From around forty yards out, he ghosted to the left touchline, left several tacklers for dead then slipped a gem of an offload inside for full back Grant Anderson to apply the finishing touch.

Climo converted, Ayr relaxed and disaster almost struck after they lost a sloppy lineout five meters from the Watsonian line. A loose kick downfield was gathered all to casually by Anderson, his kick was even more casual and was charged down and it was fortunate that Doug Brown didn't get a touch for a try. It came a few minutes later however as Watsonians piled the pressure on the Ayr line and wing Grant Somerville squeezed over at the corner.

Even that did little to rouse Ayr who were under pressure in the lineout from Tal Weizman and Ramsay Dean, were achieving parity at best at the breakdown and showed little of their customary wit behind the scrum although had Jon Crossan not been hauled down a yard short with minute to go to the break, the scoreline would have looked more convincing.

At 12-5 ahead at half time then, it was anybody's game and Watsonians looked less and less likely to roll over until a familiar face took a hand. Having returned a couple of weeks ago from a lengthy Antipodean trip, AJ MacFarlane had come off the bench for a cameo against Currie but five minutes into the second half he came on and three minutes later was celebrating after working a tried and trusted move off the back roew with Glen Tippet to go over. Climo added the points but it was a long while coming for the bonus point. Certainly the MacFarlane try killed off any hope Watsonians had of saving the game and when, ten minutes from time Sutherland claimed his second try, it finished off what by then was a workmanlike performance by a side who had an eye on the next big one.

"It was always going to be difficult to raise the game after Currie" admitted Ayr coach Kenny Murray " and we had a couple of players who had been down with flu during the week and although Andy Dunlop seemed to have recovered, Damien Kelly was a doubt until late on and they are two of our big go forward guys."

"Credit to Watsonians, they defended really well and looked good in the lineout where we were a bit disappointing in the first half although it did get better after half time but it was the scrum which gave us the platform in the first half. The ground was very heavy and we had to contend with the underfoot conditions but in the end we did the job and collected five points to Keep us level with Currie on points at the top."

So what of next weekend when Ayr travel to Yorkshire to face Doncaster Knights in the opening round of the British and Irish Cup? Firstly they will come up against some weel kent faces including Scotland A prop Stuart Corsar and stand off Ali Warnock, ex-Biggar, Currie, Nottingham, Edinburgh and according to his old Biggar team mate, Ayr flanker Andy Dunlop, 'a player who should have been capped by Scotland-one of the outstanding No10s of recent years.'

Doncaster are coached by another man of many clubs, former Edinburgh coach Lynn Howells who your correspondent fondly remembers as resisting my pleas to do an interview for BBC TV Wales on the Hughenden pitch, insisting rather that we do it on terrace 'so as not to get my new white trainers dirty'.

The Ayr coach agreed that excitement was building among the players who had been looking forward to the two matches, Doncaster away then Rotherham at Millbrae on Friday November 27th, for weeks.

"We know that this will be a massive challenge for us because they have claimed scalps like Bristol earlier in the season. They are a big, strong physical side but we hope to compete with them since we have our fair share of physical players in our squad."

"We have been described recently as a big game side and as we have shown in the past we can rise to the occasion and this is the biggest occasion for Ayr since we won the title last season. Although it is unknown territory and on paper it is professionals against amateurs, on the field we intend to give a very good account of ourselves and not let Scottish rugby down."

"We are under no real pressure since we seem to go into this one as underdogs so we will go out to enjoy the game and learn form the experience then bring that back for our home game against Rotherham and our Scottish Hydro Premier 1 campaign"

"Since we are only allowed to play two of our three overseas players we have elected to go with center Mark Stewart and flanker Jon Crossan, resting Frazier Climo who should be fit and raring to go against Rotherham. From Saturdays team that probably means that we will bring Dougie Steele into full back, Grant Anderson will move into center and Ross Curle will wear the No10 shirt and we have three pro players in Ed Kalman, Hamish Mitchell and, back in an Ayr strip, Pat MacArthur."

"The squad will be:

Dougie Steele, Grant Anderson, Andy Wilson, Ross Curle, Mark Stewart, Cammy Taylor, Steven Manning, Jamie Hunter, AJ MacFarlane, Gordon Reid, Stewart Fenwick, Gordon Sykes, Ed Kalman, Pat MacArthur, Hamish Mitchell, Scott Nimmo, Scott Sutherland, Jon Crossan, Andy Dunlop, Paul Burke, Glen Tippett."

So Ayr set off on Saturday morning for Doncaster and a 2pm kick off on Sunday. Doncaster come off an 11-7 defeat last Saturday at the hands of Ayr's next opponents, Rotherham, dropping them to eighth spot in the Championship table, two places above but only two points ahead of Rotherham. There is no reason why Ayr cannot travel with confidence as Scottish champions.