RAMPANT AYR ran in nine tries in round five of the BT Premiership to beat Stirling County at Millbrae, writes Elena Hogarth.

It was a quite breathless first half, with seven touchdowns for the home team, and a rather tame second in comparison, although there were two tries for each side to record a huge 55-21 score.

County got the better start, with two penalties by stand-off Shaun Treweek. Ayr’s captain Ross Curle ended up in the sin bin for a professional foul but the visitors couldn’t capitalise on his absence. It was Stirling’s turn to leak penalties - Ayr went for the line-out and a swift pass from stand-off Frazier Climo sent centre Robbie Fergusson over for the first try. Then the floodgates opened.

Number eight Pete McCallum and wingers Haddon McPherson and Cameron Taylor crossed for tries before man of the match George Hunter got a hat-trick. The prop was playing at blindside flanker after the previous week’s outing in the second row and seems to be comfortable all over the pitch, having power and pace in abundance.

It was a patchy day kicking-wise for Climo, who got four conversions from eight attempts, but he more than proved his worth with his uncanny ability to ghost through the smallest of gaps in the defence, and set up no less than four of the first half scores.

Stirling added another penalty in the first half but understandably looked careworn to be going into the clubhouse with a 43-9 half-time score. Their woes continued at the resumption but Ayr didn’t take advantage. Both teams seemed a bit puffed out after the fast-paced first forty minutes.

Curle and his backs tried to get things going, and the captain was particularly unlucky to be called back for a questionable knock-on and later a so-called forward pass. County, who avoided relegation at the end of last season, tried to salvage some pride but their own basic errors cost them. McCallum’s second try of the day, and fifth of the season, further compounded their misery.

They saw a glimmer of light thanks to Ayr though. Replacement hooker Lewis Anderson, who returned to Millbrae over the summer after a period with GHA, collapsed the maul on Ayr’s line, getting yellow carded, and referee Graeme Wells awarded a penalty try, which Treweek converted.

Another black mark against Ayr – not rolling away this time – let County replacement prop Mark Hunter rumble over for an unconverted try.

The game was staggering to an uneventful end but prop Steven Longwell, who’s been a great addition to Ayr’s squad, had one last hurrah, claiming his team’s ninth try of the day, which Curle converted in place of the injured Climo.

The high score perhaps flattered to deceive as the visitors really did struggle, but the number of tries will only boost Ayr’s confidence before a tough game against Heriot’s at Goldenacre on Saturday. Head coach Calum Forrester was much calmer at the close of play than the previous week at Gala when he looked like he needed oxygen to make it into the clubhouse and said afterwards: “The message at the end of last week’s match was that the season starts now, and the boys really took that on. It was a great first-half performance but a bit of a funny situation to be that far ahead at the interval, and the second half just ran dry. But it’s onwards and upwards to our biggest match of the season.” The 2nd XV recorded their first win of the season, beating their Stirling counterparts 69-28, and Millbrae RFC had another victory, winning 20-10 against Wigtownshire.

For the full story see this week's Ardrossan and Saltcoats Herald.