RUGBY

Elena Hogarth

EVERYONE at Millbrae will have a bit of a spring in their step in the run-up to this Saturday’s BT Cup quarter-final with Jed-Forest after Ayr RFC was named January BT Club of the Month by Scottish Rugby.

The national body awards the accolade every month during the season for the club that has excelled across all sections, and it was given to Ayr in light of their development of men’s, women’s and youth rugby.

The men’s teams and Ayr Ladies were unbeaten in January, and the Ayr-Wellington U16 and U18 boys made the National Youth League Cup finals once again. They were also commended for their commitment to taking women’s rugby to the wider community through development officer Catherine Shennan.

Ayr Ladies exemplified that development by beating BT Premier League champions Murrayfield Wanderers 40-24 on Sunday in the Premier Development Cup - a competition new for this season that goes on while players are on duty for Scotland.

Wanderers may have been missing their international stars, but they were still a force to be reckoned with. Ayr Ladies had all the answers though, scoring six tries, a hat-trick apiece for Joanne Jones and Julie David, with Shennan converting five.

On the same day the award was announced, Ayr captain Pete McCallum was named skipper of Scotland Club XV for their international against English Counties, with Ross Curle, Steven Longwell and Robert McAlpine starting, and David Armstrong, Will Bordill and Blair Macpherson coming off the bench. It was a tough match at Moseley RFC in Birmingham on Friday night, with the Counties winning 45-28 in a high intensity match.

The Club XV squad is selected from the best of the BT Premiership, and Ayr had more players than any other club. They were just seven of sixteen current and former players Ayr had in representative matches across Scotland, Scotland U20s, Scotland U19s and Glasgow Warriors over the weekend.

Ayr’s coaching team was busy too, head coach Calum Forrester working with Scotland U19s, Glen Tippett assisting the Club XV and Pat MacArthur lacing up his boots for his 150th appearance for the Warriors. Former Ayr scrum-half Peter Jericevich, now a leader in strength and conditioning coaching for Scottish Rugby, was celebrating Scotland Women’s fantastic 15-14 win against Wales on Friday night as part of their back room staff.

The Club XV contingent have now returned to Ayr duty and are preparing with their team-mates for the visit of Jed-Forest. The BT National 1 side are one of Scotland’s oldest clubs and are currently third in the league below Ayr, so the home team should be hopeful of a straightforward win.

Nevertheless, Jed have some terrifically speedy backs (they have a formidable sevens team) and a former Ayr player in centre Robbie Shirra-Gibb, who will no doubt be able to give his current team-mates the inside track.

The cup competition loves an upset but it’s hard to see it happening on Saturday. A noticeable difference between the first and second levels of club rugby exists and Forrester will ensure his players guard against any form of complacency in their match with the Borderers.