Today Ayr managed to weather a Cartha onslaught at scrum time to battle their way to victory. Despite trailing early on Ayr showed great composure to retain their lead once stolen, and see out a 10-21 win.
It was a draw last week and defeat seven days before that, so head coach Stuart Fenwick was delighted to see his men get over the line this afternoon: "It is really good to get back to winning ways. Although we drew last week we also played some of our best rugby, so it was great to see out this game which was nip-and-tuck at half-time. "Cartha made it really difficult for us around the set-piece. We didn't want to get sucked into that physical contest, so we managed to move their big boys around the park and get advantages from that later in the game". The hosts got a grip on proceedings early on with solid scrum-work converting into territory. After 17 minutes they reaped their reward, barrelling over from close range.Ayr were unperturbed and managed to put their stamp on proceedings shortly after. The ball was worked wide to Camie Black who pranced around his man and towards the line. Brought down short, Ayr quickly recycled to find the charging Seth Rae who dove over.The lead was stretched soon after, with Jamie Bova converting a penalty into three points. Cartha continued to strangle the pack at scrum-time, but when the ball was on the loose Ayr's backs made them pay. The last act of the half was a quick tap, which gifted winger Zac Howard a run-in catching the hosts' napping. Half-time: Cartha Queens Park 5-15 Ayr RFC. You could argue a ten-point lead at the break flattered the visitors, and soon after the restart, Cartha narrowed the margin. With Scott Clelland in the bin for repeat infringements, the hosts powered over, but couldn't add the extras. All that was left was for Bova to see out the contest with two penalty kicks, one on the hour mark and another on the final whistle for good measure.Full Time: Cartha Queens Park 10-21 Ayr RFC. Zac Howard, whose running game was a constant threat throughout, was named Slaters Menswear Man of the Match.
