Melrose lift BT Cup to cap off a fine season
Melrose pushed past club rivals Ayr 23-18 in the BT Cup final at the national stadium on Saturday to avenge their BT Premiership final defeat to the Millbrae men. Ayr made a racing start with Blair MacPherson carrying deep into the Melrose 22 and offloading to wing Danny McCluskey, who raced over in the right corner before Frazier Climo pushed the conversion attempt wide after 54 seconds of play.Melrose then responded with a charging maul in Ayr’s close quarters, which resulted in a penalty and with the momentum in favour of the Borders side, Grant Runciman bustled over with the help of his forward pack to draw level.Lewis Anderson then made a promising charge down the right touchline to edge closer to the Melrose line, however the ball was recycled and Rob Chrystie’s men went on the charge again.Melrose were awarded a penalty just inside Ayr’s half and with the trusty boot of Jason Baggott stepping up, this season’s BT Premiership table-toppers extended their lead.A minute later, Climo returned the favour with a penalty strike of his own, taken with ease at the other end of the pitch to draw level with Melrose on the 30-minute mark.Both sides continued to wait it out for the upper hand with several charges coming from their respective back-lines.Half-time: Melrose 8-8 AyrAn early penalty for Melrose after the break enabled Baggott to claim back the lead for his team before Ayr started to gain momentum with impressive line breaks.Ross Curle, was the first to sprint from deep inside the Melrose half, startling the defence with pace before sending a looping pass to scrum-half David Armstrong.The Millbrae men continued in the Melrose 22 and a break by Armstrong down the middle, followed by an effective ball, led flanker Will Bordill to power past the Borders defence and go over right of the sticks. Climo then added the points to send Ayr in front.Ayr held the majority of possession as the game entered the 60-minute mark leading to Frazier Climo adding another three points to Ayr’s lead with a penalty from the right.Climo continued to impress at the helm as Curle made dents in the defence from the middle, however Melrose began to string together a couple of phases.After a kick over the top from Climo was collected by Melrose, scrum-half Murdo McAndrew provided an inside ball to George Taylor saw the centre finish off the break before Craig Jackson converted to level the scores.Ayr responded with good work at the scrum to utilise platform ball and earn themselves a penalty before Climo kicked down field to no avail.Melrose then won a penalty with the game entering its final stages and kicked it to Ayr’s 10 metre line before working it patiently through the phases before spinning it out wide to provide Nyle Godsmark with the easiest of finishes and the winning try.Melrose Head Coach, Rob Chrystie, said: The want and the desire was certainly there for us and there was a lot of emotion building up to the game throughout the week. These kind of games are never going to be won in the first 60/75 minutes and it’s what you do in that last ten, as we saw in the BT Premiership final last weekend. The breakdown was a lot better this week, it helped us create momentum and it gave us a lot of opportunities to kick off. There’s a lot of growth in this team and I think we can push on even further next year, that’s our focus. Full-time: Melrose 23 – 18 AyrReferee: Lloyd LintonPlayer of the Match: Grant Runciman (Melrose)Melrose: Fraser Thomson; George Taylor, Nyle Godsmark, Craig Jackson, Sam Pecqueur; Jason Baggott, Bruce Colvine CAPTAIN, Jamie Bhatti, Russell Anderson, Nick Beavon, James Head, Ruaridh Knott, Neil Irvine-Hess, Grant Runciman, Iain Moody. Replacements: Cammie Mackay, Dan Elkington, Ruairi McLeod, Ali Grieve, Peter Eccles, Murdo McAndrew, Patrick Anderson.Ayr: Grant Anderson; Danny McCluskey, Ross Curle, Stafford McDowall, Craig Gossman; Frazier Climo, David Armstrong, George Hunter, Lewis Anderson, Steven Longwell, Craig Stevenson, Scott Sutherland, Blair MacPherson, Will Bordill, Pete McCallum CAPTAIN. Replacements: David Young, Djustice Sears-Duru, Gregor Henry, Harry Warr, Archie Russell, Richard Dalgleish, Robbie Smith.
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