What better way to start the season than a bruising border battle, a raid on the reivers stronghold and hoovering up the points after causing some havoc in Hawick.

Yes the fixtures are out and first up on August 21st, Ayr start their league campaign with a trip to Mansfield Park to take on Hawick who have bounced back to Premier 1 after being relegated for the first time their history.

The border theme continues the following week when Melrose are at Millbrae for a replay of last seasons Cup Final and Ayr will be looking for a similar result over Craig Chalmers troops, bonus point and all.

The first game in September is against the closest thing Ayr get to a bogy side when they travel to Mayfield to take on a Dundee HSFP, the outfit who beat them there last season in the sixth match of the campaign with a last minute Barry Jones penalty which came back to haunt Ayr in the final run in. Dundee it was a couple of seasons ago too who burst the Fortress Millbrae bubble in the league opener so this is one to approach very carefully indeed.

September 11th and its Heriots at Millbrae then Ayr pop up the road the following week to take on Hawks at Old Anniesland before seeing out September with Selkirk at Millbrae.

Meggetland is the venue on October 2nd and Boroughmuir have been recruiting heavily over the summer so it could be that they are about to put a couple of pretty ordinary seasons behind them and make a real challenge. West are next up at Millbrae on October 9th before Kenny Murray takes his troops off to Myreside to take on a Watsonian side who narrowly avoided relegation last term but could be a bit stronger this time around, depending on how the capital player merry go round ends up.

Like Hawick, Stirling County have bounced straight back up into Premier 1 and are at Millbrae for Ayr’s tenth and final home game of the eleven which will decide how the league will be split but if there is anything depending on the final match in this stage of the league programme, no prizes for guessing that it will be between the two sides whose clashes have entered the folklore of Premier 1 rugby over the past few seasons.

Like Currie, Ayr have been handed five home and six away fixtures, as have all the sides who ended up in the top six last season but for Ayr to have to travel to Malleny on October 30th is not the best of draws, the only consolation being that if, as you would expect, the two sides who were so far ahead of the field last season will meet at Ayr in the second round of league games when it could yet again be crunch time.

With the new league structure, there will be very little margin for error but Ayr are better placed than most to cope with both the pressure and the demands on the squad which will come from an intense series of games. The buzz around training even on the firts night was positive and there will be some real challenges for key positions in the coming season, provided of course the players are not eaten alive by the particularly malignant type of midgie which seems to hang around Auchincruive!