THE AYRSHIRE POST REPORTS

Big Test For Ayr Rugby Club
May 15 2009 by Ron Evans
IT was the French philosopher Horloge, or maybe it was Ernie Wise, who said 'Timing is everything'.
Well, Ayr Rugby Club's timing could not have been better (writes Ron Evans).
In the season in which they won SHE Premier One, the long discussed cross border competition involving Scottish, Irish Welsh and English clubs has become a reality.
A concept knocked around since the late 1990s, and in anticipation of which Glasgow Hawks came into being, was finally given a form and approval by the four home unions last week and the Scottish representation was announced.
Scotland will be represented in the British and Irish Cup by the two sides finishing first and second in Premier One and a side from the academies and fringe players of the Glasgow and Edinburgh pro sides.
They will be up against six teams from the Welsh Premiership – Cardiff, Newport, Aberavon, Llanelli, Neath and Pontypool, three Irish provinces – Munster, Leinster and Ulster and 12 English Championship (the league below the Guiness Premiership) sides consisting of Rotherham Titans, Plymouth Albion, Bedford, Birmingham and Solihull, Nottingham, Mosley, Bristol Rugby, Cornish Pirates, London Welsh, Coventry, Doncaster and Exeter Chiefs.
The teams will split into four pools of six with each side playing each other once and the pool winners going into a knock out competition. As far as is possible, the pools will be made up on a geographical basis with the aim of limiting travel and cost while maximising local interest.
Coach Kenny Murray admitted that it could be tough for Ayr up against full time professionals but considered it a step worth taking in order to improve the standard of Scottish club rugby.
He said: “Of course it will be a huge challenge and there is definitely a big gulf between the top clubs in Scotland and the teams who are playing professional rugby in the English second division.
“However, this will be a real step up for us and means we will have to produce a consistently high level game because of the quality of the opposition and in that way we will have the opportunity of measuring the players and the coaches against the other home nations. If that goes any way to improving the quality of our game then it has to be a step forward for club rugby in Scotland.
"When it looked as though this was going to happen we discussed it with the players and they are all for it because the opportunity of playing sides like Bristol or Exeter is the sort of challenge they will relish.
"We have players who want to test themselves at a higher level and to do that they have been looking elsewhere in the UK or abroad for that opportunity. But if we can offer them at least five matches in the British and Irish Cup as well as a really testing domestic league programme, then that could be the incentive they need to stay and that would be a great benefit for us."
President Billy McHarg was equally enthusiastic about the competition.
He said: “We have to be positive in facing what will be a real challenge but it will encourage players to stay at Ayr with that sort of opportunity coming up. We will need to enlarge our squad a bit but we already have three local players back at Millbrae from a spell in Australia who all have 1st XV experience in Johnny McClung, Cammy Taylor and Steven Adair so that will help augment our squad straight away.
“The SRU have agreed to provide funding for the costs of 25 players and six back-up staff in the shape of coaches, manager physio etc and clubs will be able to keep their gate receipts and any hospitality revenue which can be brought in around the games so the financial element is not a problem.
“We have to be delighted that in the season when this finally came into being coincided with Ayr's success in winning Premier One and we have to grasp this opportunity with both hands."
The pools and fixtures have yet to be decided but the dates will coincide with Scotland's Autumn and Six Nations internationals when the clubs would have no games anyway. Pool matches are pencilled in for November 7 and 28, February 13 and 28 and March 13 with the semi-finals on April 24 and the final on May 15.
Do I have reservations? Well yes in that there could possibly be a mis-match between particularly the English and Scottish clubs bearing in mind that the likes of Bristol have just dropped down from the Premiership where they were up against the likes of Leicester, Wasps, Sale and Bath every week.
Those of us who remember back to the fledgling days of the pro game wince still at the memory of Scottish 'professional' sides going to the likes of Northampton and returning at the wrong end of massive scorelines.
This would be one thing which could end up doing more harm than good to the Scottish game if it was in fact to happen. But apart from that, and if the draw is made on a geographical basis as is proposed, Ayr could find themselves with five matches of real quality which would hopefully draw crowds to Millbrae even in excess of the record numbers who turned out to watch them clinch the Premier One title.
Anyway, it is down to the players and the coaches to decide how they will tackle it and as one current Ayr player said to me with relish "Bring it on!"
This column will now be taking its summer break to the Land of the Long White Cloud but we will be back in June with all the latest on new signings, plans to defend the title and of course, where the Millbrae men will be taking on the English, Welsh and Irish.
In the meantime, my thanks to all at Millbrae and beyond for the help and consideration which makes this column possible and most of all to the players who made a privilege to be able to report of the most memorable season in the history of Ayr Rugby Club.

This article was originally posted on 15-May-2009, 12:03 by Hugh Barrow.
Last updated by Hugh Barrow on 15-May-2009, 12:05.