AYR barged past Glasgow Hawks in the penultimate round of the BT Premiership, scoring six tries to triumph 36-7, whilst the Ayr-Wellington U16 and U18 boys experienced disappointment in the National Youth League Cup finals, writes Elena Hogarth.

Perched seven points above their hosts in second place in the league table, Ayr went to Old Anniesland looking to keep Hawks at bay with a strong performance, and that was what they did, although perhaps a little easier than anticipated.

Despite a spirited start by Hawks, they didn’t gel as a team and Ayr took advantage. Wingers Danny McCluskey and Craig Gossman, number eight Pete McCallum and scrum-half David Armstrong ran riot.

Centre Archie Russell opened the scores and once again put in an impressive display in defence, felling Hawks’ bulky full-back Jack Steele more than once to show just how much his all-round play has improved in the past year.

Armstrong, surely the league’s best scrum-half, was next on the scoresheet, haring away from a scrum to score between the posts.

There’s always a bit of niggle between Ayr and Hawks as the teams know each other so well, and two yellow cards were handed out but not as a result of the melee that saw McCallum at the bottom of a pile of 29 bodies.

Ayr centre Ross Curle was sin-binned rather harshly for a clumsy tackle, and later Kerr Gossman, a former Hawks player who became an Ayr player and then a Hawks player again, was dismissed for ten minutes for rather unfortunately putting in a high tackle on big brother Craig. They were smiling at full-time, so all was forgiven.

Curle made up for his indiscretion by scoring a flying try before captain McCallum added one. Kerr Gossman got his team on the scoreboard, with stand-off Hagan Schulte converting, but it only served to save Hawks’ blushes.

Ayr replacement winger Jamie Bova and McCluskey got a try each before the final whistle, stand-off Frazier Climo’s last conversion hitting the post, giving him a fifty per cent success rate with the boot, although he more than made up for it as he bossed the game alongside Armstrong.

Ayr head coach Calum Forrester was a happy man and said: “It was a really disciplined performance in terms of our game plan and it’s hugely important going into the knock-out stages of the league.”

Saturday’s final BT Premiership tie with Watsonians at Millbrae is Ayr’s last regular league game.

They are currently ahead of Melrose at the top of the table by just a point but the Borders side have a game in hand as the play-offs loom.

Meanwhile on Friday, Ayr-Wellington U16 and U18 boys took to the international pitch at BT Murrayfield to once again compete in the National Youth League Cup finals against Hawick and Stirling County respectively.

Ayr 2nd XV had a close call against Glasgow Hawks 2nd XV in BT Reserve 1, triumphing 30-27, with Craig Brown man-of the-match.

Both matches showcased the best in Scottish age-grade rugby as the young men from all teams played with confidence, skill and ambition. But it wasn’t to be for the Millbrae-based boys. Despite tries by bustling hooker Scott Clelland and industrious prop Conlan McLuckie, it was the youngsters from Hawick who won the U16s’ trophy 13-10.

The U18s were really up against it in their final, Stirling just that bit bigger and more powerful, but they managed to hold them off for most of the first half. Not so in the second half, sadly, but they showed true fighting spirit to score a try through dexterous prop Logan Richardson, with Jack Gaw adding a conversion and a penalty. County defended their title with an eventual 22-10 victory.

The boys in pink, black and dark green may not have had any silverware to take back to Ayrshire, but their dedication to training and matches – not to mention that of their coaches and parents – is a point of pride for Ayr RFC.