Marr U18s earn hard fought victory

Marr U18s entertained Ayr U18s in two matches as a curtain raiser to the senior matches later in the afternoon.

A minutes silence was held at the start of them match in memory of Rob Drummond, an Ayr player and cousin of Marr's hooker Jamie Drummond, who tragically lost his life recently.

Marr started in the ascendency from the off and Ayr were pinned back in their own 22 for most of the first quarter. Some resolute defence and the occasional wrong option prevented Marr from taking the lead Eventually the pressure told and after some good phases Jamie Drummond,on his Marr debut, burst through to score. The conversion attempt by Beckwith missed narrowly. 5-0 to Marr.

Marr continued to maintain the pressure on the Ayr line and eventually good hands allowed Murray Blair to go over in the corner. Gregor Beckwith struck the conversion sweetly to increase Marr's lead to 12-0. The referee blew the whistle for half time shortly after.

In the second half Marr contined to allow Ayr into the game by giving away penalties at the breakdown and to their credit Ayr moved the ball looking for their first score. However the whole Marr team with the back ow of Mackenzie Smth, Murray Blair and captain Kyle McCulloch to the fore, repulsed any attack that Ayr threw at them.

Marr then took the ascendency again and after a period of pressure Marr won a scrum against the head on the Ayr 5 metre line and no 8 Blair crashed over for his second try of the day. Beckwith was again successful with the conversion.

Mar's final score came after a number of pick and drives from the forwards with Jamie Drummond agaim using his power to force his way over. Beckwith kicked the two points to make the final score 26-0 to Marr.

Things to work on but a lot of positives in securing a victory against a club who have a strong reputation in recent years of having one of the strongest U18 squads in the country A good performance in testing conditions with persisting drizzle making handling difficult at times.

Next week the U18s visit Hillead/Jordanhill in the first round of the Schools Conference league.

It is to their credit that both Marr and Ayr are able to field two teams at U18 level. In the second match Marr took a 24-7 lead through tries from Blair Nicholl, Josh Affleck , Scott Toner and Cameron Mackenzie with two conversions from Scott Grassom.

However injuries recduced the Marr team to 13 and Ayr eventually ovecame them by 28 pointsto 24. A fantastic effort from the boys and surely with a full team they would have been able to hold out for the win.