Callum Kerr @ Millbrae
On Friday night the Ayrshire Bulls opened their Sprint Series account with a 24-17 victory over the Boroughmuir Bears at Millbrae. Despite the odd sign of rust after a long lay-off both sides put on a show for the television cameras, with an expansive game providing some stunning scores.
It was Peter Horne’s first competitive match at the helm of the Bulls, and although relieved to secure the win, he believes there’s plenty work still to do: “I felt like we struggled to get going. Credit to Boroughmuir they brought a lot of intensity around the breakdown, they forced a lot of mistakes out of us, they got a lot of turnovers on the ground. They clearly came in with a game plan to have a crack and slow us down and it worked.
“We’ve got some improving to do but job done. We got five points which is a good way to start – you’d rather that than play great and lose!”
The Bulls come into the sprint series reigning FOSROCSuper6 Champions, and although this is technically a different tournament with another trophy up for grabs, they’re the pacemakers in terms of quality. Speaking on transitioning from Pat MacArthur’s championship side, Horne said: “The roles haven’t changed all that much, Pat’s brilliant at getting the boys going, he’s still got a big role to play, and we bounce off each other pretty well – we both have a bit of work to do but we’ll be better”.
It was everyone’s first look at Pete Horne’s Bulls, which included eight debutants (and two new faces from the pro release). Andrew Nimmo, Alex Samuel, Lewis McNamara, Joe Knight, Cam Jones, Thomas Glendinning and Liam McNamara all started and took to life at Millbrae like ducks to water. Tim Brown provided reinforcement from the bench and looked equally handy at this level. Horne continued: “There was some good performances from the debutants. I thought Thomas worked hard… He slipped a few tackles and he’s physical. Tim Brown came off the bench and was excellent. Big Alex Samuel had a cracking game too.
“There were some really promising performances in there and it’ll be the start of a bright future for them in a Bulls shirt”.
It was newcomer Alex Samuel who concluded his performance with FOSROC Player of the Match honours, after a bruising performance in the engine room.
The Bulls will hope to carry on their winning ways next Saturday when they travel to Bridgehaugh to face Stirling County. The match kicks-off at 16.30.