Arnold Clark Men's Premiership: Ayr run riot on a dark day for Hawick
Yesterday at 03:33 PM
Hawick 0
Ayr 93
ALAN LORMER @ Mansfield Park
ON a black day for the Greens, Ayr ran riot against a depleted Hawick side with a 15-0 try score to confirm the wide-held view that integrating former semi-pro sides with amateur club rugby has not been a roaring success.
So was the trip from the west coast to the Borders a waste of time? Not so according to Ayr's coach, Grant Anderson, who suggested that the game challenged his charges to test themselves under match conditions. "What this allowed us to do was put our systems under pressure. The message at half-time was reset and think 0-0. And even when we brought the bench boys on there was no drop off. What we're trying to do is to get as many people as possible exposed to this environment and playing at the standard we want," explained Anderson.
As to the matter of bringing Super6 sides into a league with amateur clubs, Anderson opined: "Anyone who was in any doubt about the difference between Super6 and club rugby can now see it. In the Premiership you've almost got leagues within leagues. It will take a wee bit of time to solve itself.
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"We had Jamie Shedden playing for Edinburgh last night, so there's maybe a layer missing. Supe6 may not have been the precise answer but there is something needed," reasoned Anderson.
The difference between the two sides was palpable right from the start of the game when Ayr's forwards dominated to an embarrassingly high degree. And once the visitors had broken the spirit of Hawick it was then just a sequence of Ayr tries, amplified in the second half when the Millbrae men ran in nine scores, three of these by replacement centre Ben Frame.
For Hawick, this was a dark day in their illustrious history. Admittedly the Greens were missing a number of top performers, among them Lee Armstrong who was pulled out of the team on Thursday night due to illness. Then, early in the match, Hawick lost the abrasive Andrew Mitchell meaning that their backline was an unfamiliar patchwork.
Up front, Hawick had too many young and inexperienced players taking the field and in the event their lightweight pack made it all too easy for Ayr.
Even so, Hawick's captain Shawn Muir chose to to offer excuses for what he described as “an unacceptable performance” from his side. "Yes they're the best side in Scotland but it's not acceptable playing for Hawick and shipping that kind of score. We've just got to take it on the chin. There's still three games to play in the Premiership so we need to bounce back. I know there are boys injured but that's not an excuse," stated Muir.
Ayr looked menacing from the kick-off, their relentless pressure yielding a predictable result, as the visitors used their forward power to engineer a driving maul try finished by James Malcolm and converted by Scott Watson.
The Ayr full back was quickly on kicking duties again, this time converting his side's second try by Ryan Sweeney, after the burly flanker exploded from a ruck and with stand-in stand-off Cian Riddell the last line of defence the score was unstoppable.
Ayr continued to use their forward power in the red zone resulting in back-row Tim Brown muscling his way over for try number three, successfully converted by Watson for a 21-0 lead.
The upward trajectory of the Ayr points tally continued as Shedden made the running for the bonus point try finished by winger Thomas Lanni and once more Watson made kicking off the tee look ridiculously easy.
Shedden then switched roles to finisher after Blair Macpherson had rampaged into open space to create a try for the big centre, and yet again Watson proved super accurate with his goal kicking.
Ayr still had time for another score before the interval and this time it was second-row Rory Jackson who caused havoc with his determined running and then a finely judged overhead pass to former Gala man Fergus Johnston, sending Ayr into the half-time break with a more than comfortable 40-0 advantage.
Matters failed to improve for Hawick after the break as Ayr used scrum ball to attack on the blindside, Johnston taking a return pass from Lanni to score his second try.
The agony continued for Hawick as Ayr moved the ball sweetly through eight pairs of hands ending with Ed Bloodworth cantering over for his side's eighth try to bring up the half century of points.
There was more misery for the Greens when Shedden cantered over – or rather was ushered through – for his second try of the match, Watson achieving his first conversion success of the second half.
The scoreboard then yelled out 64-0 when Bobby Beattie converted his own try after what looked like a practice session score. This was quickly followed by a try from replacement Frame and the conversion by Beattie.
The procession of Ayr scores continued as Lanni bagged his second try after Hawick seemed to have introduced a no-tackle rule and then when Frame completed his-trick with two tries in quick succession, and Luca Bardelli obliged with one conversion the visitors' points tally hit 88.
Frame then set up an unconverted try for replacement teenage hooker Jamie McAughtrie to complete the Mansfield rout on a day that Hawick will wish to erase from the club's history.
Teams –
Hawick: K Ford; M Reid, A Mitchell, K Brunton, C Welsh; C Riddell, G Welsh; S Muir ©, F Bell, N Little, S Frizzel, H Donaldson, R Anderson, M Brogan, C Sutherland. Subs: G Paxton, A Cannon, M Renwick, A Fairbairn, F Douglas, D Lightfoot.
Ayr: S Watson; T Lanni, J Shedden, A Stirrat, A McGowan, B Beattie ©, F Johnston; J Drummond, J Malcolm, R Tanner, E Bloodworth, R Jackson, R Sweeney, T Brown, B Mcpherson ©. Subs: J McAughtrie, C Rae, C Henderson, S Rae, B Frame, R Orr, L Bardelli.
Referee: John Smith
Scorers –
Hawick: No scorers.
Ayr: Tries: Malcolm, Sweeney, Brown, Lanni 2, Shedden 2, Johnston 2, Bloodworth, Beattie, Frame 3, McAughtrie; Cons: Watson 6, Beattie 2, Bardelli.
Scoring Sequence (Hawick first): 0-5; 0-7; 0-12; 0-14; 0-19; 0-21; 0-26; 0-28; 0-33; 0-35; 0-40 (h-t) 0-45; 0-50; 0-55; 0-57; 0-62; 0-64; 0-69; 0-71; 0-76; 0-81; 0-86; 0-88; 0-93.
Man-of-the-Match: Ayr's massive win was based on the power of their forward pack in which the seemingly indefatigable Ryan Sweeney set the tone with his immense work-rate and ability to offload when the opportunities presented themselves.
Talking point: A scoreline like this against a club who were Premiership Champions as recently as two seasons ago focuses the mind and one wonders if a suitable successor model can be found. The 12 team Premiership was always going to produce some huge scores and perhaps it would have been better to have had a smaller league at the top, with, say, eight clubs to which ambitious players would have migrated.
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