Callum Kerr at Millbrae
This afternoon at Millbrae Ayr pulled themselves back to winning ways with a comprehensive victory over Stirling County. The hosts went into the contest on the back of three losses but displayed newfound confidence to dispel all County attacks, preventing them from registering any tries in a 28-3 win.
(Image – George McMillan)
Ayr head coach Stuart Fenwick would have played down the notion of it being a must-win game before kick-off, but he expressed how crucial it was to end the year on a high afterwards: “We have had a tough few weeks. It was massively important (to win). We spoke at training about how big a week it was – we did not want to finish this year on four back-to-back losses… Today we turned up and I’m really happy with the way we stuck in and did the work”.
To win is one thing, but to win in such a convincing manner in front of a home crowd is something that was particularly pleasing for Fenwick: “The defensive effort from the boys was huge and it was set by the tone and intensity we wanted to play at.
“In the past couple of weeks we felt that our attitude let us down a little bit and we had work to do. They turned up today and fired real well”.
There were multiple players who put their hands up for Player of the Match honours, but in the end Euan Hamilton stood out from the rest. The second row put in a heroic eighty minutes in the engine room and was still throwing himself around the park come final whistle. His attrition around the pitch was contrasted by an elegant display in the skies, proving to be a nuisance at line out time.
Stuart Fenwick praised the effort of his number four, and squad, with: “Euan was absolutely outstanding, and that contributed to an outstanding performance across the pack in those conditions. For me, another performance that stood out was Ross McCorkindale at nine. He controlled things expertly on his first outing in that position.