Callum Kerr @ Meggetland
The Ayrshire Bulls made tricky work of their away bout to Boroughmuir, but inevitably left with all available points and a pleasing 17-27 victory. There was nothing separating the sides at half-time, but a 0-17 run after the break put the Bulls out of reach. The Bears did manage a consolation score on the stroke of final whistle to soften the blow.
After the match Pat Macarthur was mostly pleased with his men’s efforts, particularly due to their ability to win despite not entirely clicking: “We won with a bonus point away from home – really well done – but I think as we grow as a team our expectations of individual performance and collective performance grow with us.
“We are happy with the win, we worked out how to win that game, but the performance we expect of ourselves wasn’t where we want it to be”.
It was 10-10 at the break and with Boroughmuir threatening it could well have been a different outcome, but the side who took to the pitch in the second half seemed to be more assured of themselves. Bears had chances to take the lead, but a steely resolve from MacArthur’s men kept them at bay, allowing them to pull away on the opposite end.
MacArthur described the difference between the two halves: “We managed to control the ball better. In the first half we coughed up a lot of possession and a big thing we’ve been working on is looking after that ball… We went in at half time and had a good few words and they reacted to it – credit to them!
“The bench came on and had a good impact as well which is great to see for our big squad”.
The Bears dealt the first punch of the afternoon through a routine penalty from Tom Pittman four minutes in.
Four minutes later, Yaree Fantini opened the Bulls scoring account. The flanker was disallowed moments before after crafty work from Bear wing Jordan Edmunds who held him up, but nobody could stop him on second serving. With the power of a maul in front of him, it was all too easy for Fantini to rumble over and dot down.
The lead was short-lived, with the electric Kaleem Barreto slicing through to make it 10-5 three minutes later.
An unconverted try for Fantini in identical circumstance to his first chalked it all up and concluded first-half scoring.
Half-time: Boroughmuir Bears 10-10 Ayrshire Bulls
On the 53-minute Michael Scott grabbed the Bull’s third try of the game – and made it three rolling maul tries in a row! Kicking woes continued for the Bulls, who were unable to convert their conversion again.
After it being a forward-hungry affair on the scoreboard, debutant winger Finn Callaghan soon ran over to snatch one for the backs. On his first touch of the ball, not only for the Bulls but also in a FOSROCSuper6 encounter, he finished off a well-worked set-piece to score under the posts. Matt Minogue, who wasn’t long on for Christian Townsend, added the extras.
Callaghan didn’t waste time to get his second. After numerous carries into the heart of the Bears’ half, the Bulls worked the ball wide gifting Callaghan plenty of space for a picturesque leap into the corner.
With the Bears now trailing 10-27 and the clock dwindling away, they plucked up a consolation score in the final play of the game.
Full-Time: Boroughmuir Bears 17-27 Ayrshire Bulls
In a game that was won up-front and in the shadows, workhorse Ryan Sweeny was named FOSROC Man of the Match for an industrious eighty-minute performance.
Today’s Twitter coverage of the match was proudly sponsored by the University of the West of Scotland.
Tries: Yaree Fantini (2), Michael Scott, Finn Callaghan (2)
Conversion: Matt Minogue