Ayr RFC win national Premiership title after final victory

Ayr RFC were crowned Premiership champions after a resounding victory over Watsonians. <i>(Image: BBC)</i>
Ayr RFC were crowned Premiership champions after a resounding victory over Watsonians. (Image: BBC)
This article is brought to you by our exclusive subscriber partnership with our sister title USA Today, and has been written by our American colleagues. It does not necessarily reflect the view of The Herald.

AYR RFC have been crowned national Premiership champions.

The Millbrae side cruised to victory in their showpiece final against Watsonians on Saturday, April 26.

The hosts were dominant from start to finish as they claimed the title with a resounding 41-12 win.

After a challenging semi-final last weekend, the regular season table toppers got off to a flying start on Saturday.

Luca Bardelli scored the first try of the day, which was converted by Fergus Johnston, only four minutes into the encounter.

A second converted try, scored by Amena Caqusau, followed quickly after before the winger added his second on ten minutes to give Ayr a 21-0 lead.

Luca Bardelli added his second on the half hour mark, which was unconverted, before a Fergus Johnston penalty had Ayr 29-0 up at half-time.

The second 40 looked as though it would be just as dominant for Ayr as Amena Caqusau completed his hat-trick on 44 minutes with an unconverted effort.

Tom Lanni added another, which was converted, on 52 minutes which put Ayr 41-0 up.

Watsonians were not content to roll over and a yellow card for Robbie Orr coincided with the visitors scoring twice in a ten minute spell.

That would be the only points Ayr gave up all evening as the Millbrae outfit finished the match as 41-12 winners.

“The amount of effort that has been put into this is monumental," head coach Grant Anderson told BBC Alba after the match.

"Not just by myself but so many other people behind the scenes that maybe don’t get as much praise as they should.

“It means a lot to win and we are just delighted to get over the line.”

(Image: BBC)

The Ayr boss credited getting the culture right as his side's key to success this season.

He added: “The priority was making sure that we got the culture right and I think because we’ve rotated the players so much that everybody has felt part of it.

“Everybody has bought in and I think it’s a great community spirit that we are trying to build.

“Plus, who doesn’t want to be part of a winning machine?”

Though Anderson also moved to note how his side got it right on both ends of the field.

He continued: “Watsonians are a quality outfit who were always going to make us work for it.

“Last week we were well controlled within the big moments of the game. I think there were a few big moments in this game where we maybe got a luckier bounce.

“Leagues are won with your defence and if you look at our points conceded this season it’s the lowest by a long way – and we built on our attack.”

Thoughts have also moved quickly to next season with Anderson keen to regroup and go again.

"We have to try and push things forward," he said. "We will look to evolve those standards and push things as far as we can.”

Get involved
with the news

Send your news & photos