The
Twos continued their recent run with a fine victory over
Ayr at Meggetland by 50 pts to 7 pts. The wind was
strong, down the pitch and therefore a major factor in
the game. However, 'Muir starting against the wind,
turned round at half-time with a good 21-7 lead. The
win was built on pace in attack and resolute defence.
The
story of the first half was largely holding out against
Ayr's pick and drive game plan. After a few phases they
would open out to their backs only to be smothered each
time by our quick defence. During this period we turned
over the ball far too often so that Ayr could maintain
their game plan. It didn't help them much and their
only score came from our error close to our line.
The
scoring started after only 5 minutes when a fine inside
pass from Bruce Aitchison to Rob Cairns coming on a
great angled run found a huge gap and he finished off
with the try which had started back at our 22. Bruce
converted.
After
another pressure period from Ayr, we broke upfield and
quick ball from a ruck on the Ayr line allowed Stuart
McGee to sprint through a gap he had been quick to spot
and he scored under the posts. Bruce again converted on
14 minutes.
Four
minutes later Ayr got their only points. An attempted
pass from Sivvy to Sean Reddox was captured by the wind
and set up Ayr to score after a series of picks and
drives to score their try, well converted from wide
out. Just on half-time another run from Rob Cairns,
this time from about 50 metres, saw him beat the Ayr
defence with sheer pace. Bruce converted for a
half-time lead of 21-7.
The
second-half was pretty much one-way traffic. Ayr fought
hard and did command the ball at times when they
returned to their game plan. Andy MacLean scored a try
at the posts on 47 minutes, his third try in three
matches, and Bruce converted. There followed a
devasting spell with tries on 55 minutes by James Fish,
on 57 minutes from James Buchanan, making his first
start for the Twos and by Bruce Aitchison on 62
minutes. None were converted.
Ball
control was given up for a spell but then we added to
our tally with a fine run and try by Johnny McGaughey on
78 minutes which was converted by Bruce. Sean Reddox,
James Buchanan and Neil Irvine had their first starts
for the Twos and they looked at home. Neil in
particular had a fine game in loose and tight and he is
a great find. I believe that Sean and Neil were both
playing against their old club having only joined us
very recently.
There
were an number of good individual displays. Phil
Bloomer played well, Chris Hill had a very good game
and got about the field and into a lot of the attacking
play in the second half, Andy MacLean's throwing to the
lineout was excellent in any conditions but remarkable
in the strong wind. Both half backs controlled the game
very well, the back line is always strong, fast and
skillfull.
What
we have to do and what was discussed at length after the
game is how do we take these strong individual
performances and mould a team performance. Surely when
we manage that the Twos will offer much more and some
opposition is going to suffer.
New
players should note that Mark Furnivall will have a
photo session after training this week to capture your
head and shoulders for the club website. Meet Mark in
the clubhouse after training.
