Callum Kerr

(Photo – SNS//Scottish Rugby)

The Ayrshire Bulls drew first blood after a handful of minutes. The visitors worked well into the 22 before ill-discipline from the hosts gifted Eli Caven an easy three points from the tee.

Watsonians worked their way back into the game, but after 20 minutes their over-eagerness gifted the Bulls a first score. From deep in their 22, Bobby Beattie shot out of the line and intercepted a Watsonians pass to scorch home unchallenged. Will Hunt’s conversion made it 0-10.

Both sides exchanged penalties to close out the half 3-13 to the Bulls.

Half-time: Watsonians 3-13 Ayrshire Bulls

Despite an early penalty after the break the bulls were swarmed to start the second half. An energetic Watsonians fired out of the traps and tallied up 17 points within the first ten minutes, putting them ahead for the first time.

More frustration followed on the hour mark when Blair Macpherson was marched to the bin and Jason Baggott strolled over to extend their lead.

The final score of the game fell in favour of the Bulls, with Macpherson marking his return to the field with a trademark carry through contact and to the line. Debutant Richie Simpson added the extras but it wasn’t enough to salvage any points.

Full-time: Watsonians 34-23 Ayrshire Bulls

Next week the Bulls will return home when they host Boroughmuir Bears at Millbrae. The action gets underway at 14.00.

(Photo – SNS//Scottish Rugby)

Naturally, Pat MacArthur was all smiles at full-time: “I’m delighted with how we performed, particularly in that second half. At the break we had an honest discussion on our discipline and cheap turnovers, if you continue to do that, you’re giving opportunities to the opposition.

“I think in that second half there was a real turning point of a good seven-minute defensive set on our try line with no penalties whilst we had 14 men. That showed a lot of character. It’s what we are trying to pride ourselves on – not just an attacking brand of rugby”.

Previously there’s been a lot of change in personnel throughout the Super6 teams since their inception, but the Bulls squad has started to settle and much of last year’s winning side steadied the ship last night. Players such as Blair Macpherson, Ed Bloodworth, Jordan Lenac and Bobby Beattie are all familiar to the Millbrae faithful and performed valiantly when the team were stuck in the trenches.

Of the new boys who joined in the off-season three made their debuts. Will Hunt and Archie Smeaton were on the pitch from the first whistle, whilst James Malcolm entered the fray in the second half – marking his return to Millbrae with a brace of tries that proved vital in the victory. Reflecting on their maiden performances, MacArthur said the following: “Credit to them all.

“Will Hunt. He stuck to his systems, stuck to the game plan and grew in confidence as the match went on.

“Big Archie is going well. He’s a physical man and I think as he gets used to the systems and the way of Ayr he’ll develop into a better and better player”.

“Jimmy (Malcolm) made a massive impact when he came on. Those two rolling maul tries were credit to the set-piece… We changed our full front row at half-time which I’d planned, and it is a massive testament to our strength in depth. All six of those guys played brilliantly”.

There was an array of men who could have walked away with a FOSROC Player of the match medal but it was captain Blair Macpherson who picked up the official honours – You’d struggle to argue against his selection. The colossus is known for his swashbuckling carries and bruising contacts, but it was his work in the shadows that separated him from the rest. The skipper got through a mountain of work across the eighty minutes and lead by example when his side needed inspiring.

The Bulls now travel to Edinburgh to face Sprint Series champions Watsonians next Saturday. Any betting man would imagine these two will be in the hunt come the business end of the tournament, so it’ll be a good measure of where both sides are at. The action kicks-off at 14.00.

(Image – Incoming signing James Malcolm in Action for Ayr back in 2015. George McMillan)

Headlining the signings is James Malcom who returns to the club after a few years in the professional ranks. The former Glasgow Warrior will link up with ex-teammate Pat MacArthur after two seasons across the pond in Major League Rugby.

Richie Simpson burst on to the scene for Ayr’s First XV last season and has earned his first contract with the Ayrshire Bulls. The Ayr/ Wellington youth prospect is a promising talent and fine example of the Ayr Rugby pathway from minis to FOSROC Super6.

Also joining the Bulls squad is former Scotland age-grade representative Will Hunt. The fly-half arrives from Cascais Rugby in Portugal.

Alongside the new signings, Rory Jackson returns to Millbrae on a full contract, having been previously involved as a Stage 3 Academy player.

Departing the squad is Joe Knight, Matt Minogue, Tom Lanni and Harry Murray. They join Rhodri Tanner who was announced as a leaver at the end of the Sprint Series. All at Ayr Rugby and the Ayrshire Bulls would like to wish them all the best with their future endeavours. Thank you for all of the effort you put in during your time at Millbrae.

There will be further squad announcements in the coming week.

The FOSROC Super6 Season kicks off next week, but the Bulls get their first run-around in pre-season action this evening. Pat MacArthur’s men welcome Stirling Wolves to Alloway, with action getting underway at 19.45. The match is free entry to all.

No back has made more appearances for the Warriors than Horne’s tally of 182, with only Chris Fusaro, Ryan Wilson and Rob Harley ahead of him in the all-time rankings.

The move sees Horne return to the club with whom he spent the entirety of his professional playing career, the Howe of Fife product having made his debut in Glasgow colours off the bench against Ulster back in March 2009.

Equally adept at inside centre as he was at both fly-half and full-back, his consistently high-quality displays made him a key component of the squad that won the 2015 Guinness PRO12 in unforgettable fashion back in 2015.

Horne’s form in a Glasgow shirt also earned him international recognition, running out on 45 occasions in the dark blue of Scotland, including in both the 2015 and 2019 Rugby World Cup.

Having initially joined the Bulls as an assistant coach for the 2021 FOSROC Super6, Horne was appointed as the club’s Head Coach ahead of the 2022 Sprint Series, guiding his team to third place in the overall standings.

He joins Murchie, Nigel Carolan and Al Dickinson on the Glasgow Warriors coaching team for the new season, with a Head Coach to be appointed in due course.

“I’m delighted to be back at Scotstoun,” Horne told glasgowwarriors.org.

“As soon as I’d stepped away from playing, I had the goal of getting back into the pro game as a coach as soon as I felt ready. When this opportunity came up, it was a no-brainer. I’m so invested in this club and the city that it was an easy decision. I want to help this club back to where it belongs and back challenging at the top of the table.

“We’ve got a great group of coaches and I’m fortunate to have a great relationship with the guys that are here. I’ve obviously played with Murch [Pete Murchie] for years, and I worked really closely with Nigel [Carolan] both as a player and then coming in to help out towards the end of the season, too. They’re both just great guys to sit and talk about rugby with, and I’m looking forward to learning as much as I can from both of them.

“I want to say a massive thank you to everyone down at Ayr, because it’s a fantastic club and they’ve been the ideal introduction to coaching for me. I couldn’t have been luckier. I want to thank all the boys, as well as Billy McHarg – he bought into everything I wanted to do with the squad, and I feel like Ayr is a club for life for me now. I’ve got a lot of special memories and I want to wish them all the best for what comes next.

“I genuinely believe this Glasgow squad for 2022/23 is one of the most talented groups of players this club has had. There’s a great mix of young, Scottish talent, experienced heads and some exciting new arrivals, and there are all the raw ingredients to make something special happen at Scotstoun”.

Horne’s last act at Millbrae will be to coach the ‘West’ side in Saturday’s Pro-Alignment fixture featuring the brightest sparks of the FOSROC Super6 Sprint Series. The match kicks off at 13.30 in Alloway and is £5 entry, with U18s going free.

Ayr Rugby thanks Pete for all of his commitment over the past year and wishes him all the best with the Glasgow Warriors.

(Image – George McMillan)

Watsonians had plenty to play for in the final ten minutes as well. One more try would have provided a bonus point and secured the FOSROC Super6 Sprint Series title, but now it’ll all be decided next week when they meet Stirling County in the decider. County will need to leave with all five points and hold Watsonians to none to overturn the deficit.

Predictably, Head Coach Peter Horne was disappointed with how his side performed: “First half we were completely outplayed. We had a couple chances right at the start where they defended really well, we struggled to get over the line… after that we didn’t touch the ball”.

“When we went in at half time I said ‘you’ve got to fire a shot, you’re getting well beat’… Second half we had a lot more chances that we didn’t finish and then it wasn’t until the last ten minutes that we started hanging onto the ball and getting over the line”.

The loss confirms the Bulls final league standing as third, but Horne is optimistic that the side will be back competing for silverware after the post-season: “To be honest we are not too far away! If we tidy up our set-piece, we will be in a much better place. The last couple weeks we have struggled there.

“We’re not losing too much (players), there won’t be too much of a turnover. There’s a lot of young guys who have had experience the last couple of weeks and they’ll be a lot better off the back of it”.

Two tries and a penalty unanswered for the visitors provided a 0-17 deficit at half time.

The spark the Bulls needed almost happened after the break. A runaway counterattack ended with Cam Jones diving clear in the far corner, but the assistant referee waved his flag for touch.

An hour in Watsonians bagged their third to inevitably pull the game out of reach.

With seven minutes to play Thomas Glendinning started the Bulls’ late charge. The second – three minutes later – was created by a crafty Tom Jordan chip. The fly-half regathered before sending Finn Callaghan on a weaving run through the attempted tacklers to complete a spectacular score.

With the clock in red Thomas Glendinning grabbed a second, which called an end to proceedings.

Full-Time: Ayrshire Bulls 21-24 Watsonians Rugby

A win on Friday could actually propel the Bulls into first, however the following weekend’s encounter between Stirling and Watsonians would result in at least one of the sides getting enough points to oust the Bulls.

Looking forwards instead of behind, Peter Horne insists his men must go into this Friday’s match with a fresh mindset: “It is really important to brush it (last week’s loss) to the side. We were obviously devastated… it was tough to take and we thought we’d done enough.

“This week is about finishing on a high and avenging a defeat we had a few weeks ago, as well as send off a few good men – it’ll be the last time a few guys play for this group. It’s important we celebrate what they’ve done for the club”.

Continuing, Horne says: “Watsonians will be travelling to Millbrae with everything to play for, everything to lose… They’ll be desperate to come and win the competition on Friday night. It’s important we front up and make a good representation of ourselves. Even the games we have lost we have worked really hard for each other and we’ve been a little unfortunate”.

Although putting last week’s loss behind them, the Bulls will be eager to identify the areas where they struggled against County in order to address them this Friday. Horne was quick to pinpoint where needs improving: “Our maul defence wasn’t great. It’s normally a strength of ours! That’s an area we will look to tidy up.

“Discipline. Our penalty count quadrupled last week. We weren’t giving the referee (Keith Allan) the right pictures”. Horne also outlined that they’re ready for Watsonians to come with a strong set piece so that’s an area that will be focused on.

The pressure for cup success might be off, but there’s no doubt that the Bulls will be hell-bent on rounding off their sprint series with positives. When the regular season rolls around they’re be defending league champions so this is the perfect opportunity to end with confidence in front of a home crowd. The match kicks-off in Alloway at 19.45 and is broadcast live on FreeSports from 19.30.

The league split comes into effect this weekend, meaning the Bulls will play second seed County and first seed Watsonians to conclude the sprint series. County are up first this Friday at Bridgehaugh, before Watsonians return to Millbrae on Friday 3^rd of June.

At full-time yesterday Head Coach Peter Horne admitted that the various permutations of yesterday’s result wasn’t on his mind during the match: “Nah I wasn’t thinking about it. I was fully focused on just winning the game. Right till the end I thought we were going to.

“Aaron Tait and Blair (Macpherson) came up with a great turnover late in the match – unfortunately we went to the corner and got nothing”.

Despite visually disappointed his team couldn’t secure top seed, Peter Horne was quick to compliment the performance of Watsonians, who further extended their lead at the top with the result: “There wasn’t too much between the teams, they were just extremely clinical. Their set-piece was excellent, the line-out in particular was brilliant. Ultimately them taking their chances was the difference”.

Horne also had praise for his own men, in particular how they managed to almost overcome a commanding Watsonians lead at half-time: “What a reaction I got from the boys in the second half, I thought they were excellent. Everything we asked for at half time we got.

“You know what, it was a brilliant game. That is the best and most physical game we’ve had. That’s the highest standard of rugby from across the competition so far”.

The focus now shifts to Friday’s must-win match against Stirling County at Bridgehaugh. The game kicks-off at 19.45 and will be broadcast live on FreeSports.

In what was a re-run of the 2021 final, neither side would have expected half a century to be the difference come final whistle, but pack dominance up front gifted Peter Horne’s back line the perfect platform to flourish. Seven of the ten tries came from the backs, with youngster Jamie Shedden contributing a hat-trick on debut.

At full-time whistle Peter Horne was elated with the performance of his men. The Greenyards has been a happy hunting ground over the past five years for those in pink and black but this result stands alone as the largest margin. Speaking to press, Horne explained how his team were able to step it up from their previous outing: “In terms of our physicality against Heriot’s we talked about taking it up several notches. We really took the game to Knights.

“We were aggressive and brilliant in defence. We just completely outworked them with a performance built on the back of hard work.”

Ryan Sweeney opened the floodgates on the sixth minute. Despite the Knights enjoying most of the possession in the opening exchanges, the Bulls’ first real attack ended with Sweeney charging his way over from close quarters. Christian Townsend added the extras.

The second came three minutes later in their next trip to the Knights half. Christian Townsend looked out of options when scrum-half Cam Jones switched to the blind side, but the young fly half pulled off a crafty sidestep to cut through the line and dot down unscathed. He converted his own score.

Although there seemed an inevitability about the Bulls first two scores, the next one came from obscurity. From just inside the Knights half Tom Jordan decided to two-step his way through the line on his own, palming off the attempted tacklers with ease. With every successful hand-off he propelled himself up the park before diving clear.

The Knights first score followed. A well-worked team try looked like it was game on, but the hosts struggled to build on their efforts.

It took the Bulls four minutes to get back on the score sheet. A second from Tom Jordan, this time from one yard out instead of 45, was converted to bring scoring to 7-26 with the clock still to reach the half-hour mark.

A score for Alex McGuire followed, before Shedden contributed his first of three to conclude the half.

Half-time: Southern Knights 7-38 Ayrshire Bulls

Hopes from the home support that the interval might bring change were quickly diminished just one minute after the restart. A break from Cam Jones from the kick-off launched the Bulls up the park, before Aaron Tait was freed up in acres of space to sprint home before a defender could lay a finger on him.

Next was Shedden’s second, scored in similar style to his first. The winger’s large frame commands space out wide and the straggling defenders failed to force him into touch as he dived clear inches from the corner flag.

High on confidence, the Bulls could do no wrong and gambled on running out from their 22 in the following phase. Lewis McNamara, who was popping up everywhere during the match, sliced through slack defence and galloped free. The covering defender managed to pull him down but not before he fed the hands of speedster Tait, who scorched home for his second.

A yellow card for Andrew Nimmo was small reward for Southern Knights who were now playing for pride and not much else. A score with five to play give little consolation, but poetically it was the Bulls who concluded the scoring. With the clock in red and the Bulls still wanting more, Shedden latched onto an inside offload to canter over to complete his hat-trick and signal the end of the game.

Full-time: Southern Knights 12-62 Ayrshire Bulls

It was an afternoon for try scorers, but it was his work away from the line that secured FOSROC Player of the Match honours for Ryan Sweeney. In just his second game back from injury the flanker put in a power of work around the field and was ever-present in the arm wrestle up front that was dominated by the Bulls. His try to kick-start proceedings was merely the cherry on top.

Head Coach Pete Horne was really pleased with the result, “Last week we dominated the game and came away with nothing, we weren’t clinical enough and we spoke about that during the week” he said.

“I was so proud of the boys, the mentality was spot on, on days like this you have got to scrap for everything and outwork the other team and I felt like our boys did that” Horne said.

He continued by praising his sides’ ability to see out the game and secure the victory, “Heriots played really well to get back in to the game, they scored a cracking try and it was great to see our boys frustrate them, park it and move on. I’m really proud of them, it was a real gutsy performance”.

Alex Samuel also received praise from his Head Coach after the lock was awarded Man of the Match for his performance over the 80 minutes, “He optimises what we are talking about all the time, he gets through an absolute shift and he’s doing really well”. Horne added, “His physicality is really coming on and you forget that is only his fourth game in about a year so it’s brilliant”.

The scoring began in impressive fashion as a kick down the blind side of the scrum by Cameron Jones led to a try from Elias Caven after 13 minutes.

Heriots responded quickly though by powering over the line minutes later with a try from Jack Mann, the conversion thereafter was successful from the number 10, Bruce Houston.

The back-and-forth scoring continued in the 21^st minute when the Bulls went over from close range themselves courtesy of Tom Lambert. Kicking again seemed to be an issue in the tough conditions as Christian Townsend missed the conversion once more, leaving the score at 10-7 in favour of the Bulls.

On 28 minutes the Bulls then pulled further in front. A lovely move finished off with Aaron Tait scoring and Christian Townsend kicking successfully to increase the lead to 17-7.

A spell of possession from Heriots prior to half-time looked likely to end in a score but the visitors ultimately came up short meaning the Ayrshire Bulls held their ten-point lead at the break.

It took until the 65^th minute, after several periods of possession for both sides, for there to be any further scoring in the game. Heriots’ number 23, James Couper, racing over the line to bring the game back to life. Bruce Houston then converted to bring the visitors within three points of the hosts.

Heriots pushed hard to score again and battled their way into injury time with the ball in-hand, but they were penalised for holding on, concluding the game and sealing a hard fought 17-14 victory for the Bulls.