Ayr Away

Just back from the longest trip of the season and we lost again but only by one point. Air miles and free accommodation resulted in me travelling up to Edinburgh on Friday and this resulted in an evening in a cracking pub called the Canny Man http://www.cannymans.co.uk/ and a very agreeable pint or two of Deuchars – my beer of choice “north of wall”. Cheap train travel next morning got me to Ayr via Glasgow by noon and I scouted the town searching for the fabled Killie pie which I have concluded is mythical in Ayrshire. 

I did source an Ayrshire pie however in Stobbs in the main street and then got a taxi out to Alloway and the Burns monument which is a few hundred yards from the ground:

The ground is in a wonderful site by the Brig o Doon and the clubhouse reminded me of the old St Peter’s before the bowling alley! The atmosphere was great and thanks are properly due to Billy McHarg the Ayr president who provided a free ticket and worked overtime to make everyone welcome.

The squad Steve picked clearly had an eye on the Roth match the following week and the pitch suited Jersey – narrow and sticky. Jersey’s forwards totally dominated the Ayr pack particularly in the first half. Salad had an outstanding hour before he was replaced by JB and Felts had a cracking hour hooking and then played the last 20 minutes at loose head when Elvis came on. The fact that Salad covers hooker and tight head and Felts covers hooker and loose head opens up the opportunity to split the bench 4-3 rather than 5-2 and is surely the way forward.

It was great to see Rob Anderson get a full 80 minutes he is a huge asset in the set piece and in the loose and to see Tom Brown and Ed Dawson back from injury. Joel Dudley played the full 80 at fly half and didn’t let the team down in any way – what a great kid. Huge shame that Matt Michel didn’t get a run out. I understand Steve’s reasons given the tight match score but I would have got him on anyway. I am sure he will benefit from the experience of spending the weekend with the team – I just hope they didn’t make him sit next to Salad on the plane coming back. Special mention must go to Campbell who was visiting his old club and McCrea who captained the side for the first time and lead from the front.

Ayr deserved the win – just – for trying to run the little ball they secured in the set piece. The pick of the Ayr team for me was the fly half and the prop who needed stitches – sorry to them I didn’t note the names but I looked the prop up in the bar afterwards and shook his hand. The most influential man on the field was the referee who genuinely struggled – particularly in managing the scrums and mauls and pleased neither side’s fans. Both sides deserved a more experienced man in charge.

The clubhouse after the match was great and the big bunch of lads from G.E.G. (whatever that means) were clearly intent on emptying the bar of anything potent. I hope they all had the hangovers they deserved this morning and keep the Jersey scarf I donated as a memento. The local beer in the clubhouse is McEwans 70/- (which is a bitter but not a taste I would acquire) and 60/- which is an interesting mild. The G.E.G. lads were hoovering lager and scotch rather than the beers which was a clear signal. I moved into Ayr town about 6pm and had a decent beer in the Tam O’Shanter Inn and enjoyed “dressed” fish & chips before heading back to Glasgow airport for the early flight back this morning.