Published: Tuesday, 10th February, 2009 2:50pm

Tragedy hits rugby club on verge of glory

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It was a pretty subdued Millbrae on Thursday night of last week as the club were shocked to learn of the sudden death of Damien Kelly"s father in Australia and that the Ayr skipper had left on what was going to be a long and sad journey back home.

Sport as ever in these circumstances is put into perspective and the sympathies of all at Millbrae are with Damien and his family and when it was confirmed that Ayr"s Scottish Hydro Electric Premier 1 match at Currie was postponed, the news was greeted with no more than a shrug of the collective shoulders.

Indeed, it would have been a travesty had Ayr gone to Malleny Park, collected the four points they need to clinch the title and not have the man who has contributed so much to the side both on and off the pitch there to pick up the trophy.

So it goes on. On Saturday, Ayr are at Almond Park, Livingston for the fourth round of the Cup and, assuming they come away with a win against the side who have yet to pick up a league point in Premier 3, they will be off the following week to face the winners of the fourth round tie between Gordonians and Hawick.

As things stand then, the next chance to pick up those final four points to be crowned Scotland"s top club will come at Myreside on Sunday March 1 when the re-scheduled match against Watsonians goes ahead.

Should the title then come to Millbrae, the home crowd will have the opportunity to acclaim their heros on March 7 when, after a long trail on the road, Ayr return to fortress Millbrae to take on Edinburgh Accies.

Despite the rest of Scotland resembling Siberian wasteland at the weekend, the oasis that was Millbrae was a positive hive of activity with the annual contest for the Les McCall Trophy going ahead on a snow covered pitch on Friday night.

Such was the heat of the contest that the snow was long gone by the end but it was the visitors who will triumphantly bear the cup back down the M6 to the valleys after a hard fought 5-0 win having worked an awful lot harder for that than their international counterparts had to do at Murrayfield in Sunday afternoon"s debacle.

On Saturday it was the turn of the Millbrae XV playing one of only eight matches to go ahead in Scotland.

In their West Regional Division 2 match, they ensured that they stretched their lead at the top of the table with a 37-0 win over Arran. Dave Rodman had a couple of tries, Steven Lynch, Chris Smith, Alan McGregor and Scott Hazely each grabbed one try with Phil Manning and Andy Houston each adding a conversion with David Courtney"s penalty completing the scoring.

Millbrae stretch their lead at the top of the table with only one defeat in their ten outings and, with fifty three points, head second placed Paisley by eight with Carrick in third spot on forty two points from twelve outings.

Millbrae XV? Yet another bunch who look likely to be celebrating come the end of their league campaign,.