Yesterday afternoon Marr Rugby left Millbrae with a rare victory, toppling defending champions Ayr 26-45 in the first round of the Scottish Cup.
Despite Cup exit, Stuart Fenwick couldn't have been prouder of his men come final whistle: "In terms of what we have asked the boys to do, get better week-on-week, we were delighted with how they performed today. You are never happy losing a game, but the boy's attitude and fight was fantastic. "They showed character to play for the eighty minutes. At a few stages they could have rolled over but they kept battlin' and battlin'. That shows with them nabbing two late tries to finish". The head coach also saw the benefit in the boys testing themselves against Premiership opposition: "This match allowed us to benchmark ourselves against the in-form side in Scottish Rugby."This squad gave a fantastic account of themselves". It was a dream start for Ayr, ripping up the script to score within the first 90 seconds. Jamie Bova had the initial break before sharp hands found Johnny Mccorkindale, who dived over unchallenged. The visitors got to grips with proceedings from then on, scoring a handful to make it 7-26 at the half. Unperturbed, Ayr started the second half with a new lease of life and threw their own weight around. After a steady period of pressure they were rewarded with a try to show for it. Morgan Leatherbarrow's name was belted through the tannoy as scorer but on later reflection it was revealed hooker Scott Clelland was the man who burrowed over. Bova's conversion made it 14-26 approaching the hour mark - a scoreline Craig Redpath wouldn't have expected.As the game marched on the visitors began to flex their muscles and assert themselves. A Robert Brown try was followed by a quick brace from captain Conor Bickerstaff and all of a sudden Marr had their healthy lead. Heads could have dropped, but Ayr gritted their teeth and kept battling for every yard. As the game marched towards its' conclusion Stuart Fenwick's men mustered up two scores to sign off the derby on a positive note.James Baird ran in the first, working well off the tail of a line-out to cut through purple bodies and dive over.The final act came from Johnny McCorkindale, who added a touch of class to bag his second. The full-back chipped over the Marr line before hacking on and winning the footrace to score.Full-time: Ayr RFC 26-45 Marr Rugby.Captain Gregor Henry led his side with distinction before a knock ended his afternoon prematurely. The back-row went toe-to-toe with his Troon counterparts to be named Slaters Menswear Man of the Match. Photos - George McMillan