Melrose 23 Ayr 18

HONOURS even at the end of the season. Melrose can be proud of the character they showed in beating Ayr to win the BT Cup final just a week after losing to the same team in the Premiership final, and the rest of Scottish rugby should celebrate the efforts of both sides.

Other clubs may cast an envious glance at the ability of Ayr and Melrose to generate money, but there is no denying that their rivalry has driven up standards both on and off the pitch. If we are ever to get to the stage where the top division of the club game can truly be deemed semi-professional, it will surely be when the example of those two is emulated far more widely.

Saturday’s match at Murrayfield was not a classic - perhaps because the teams know each other too well by now - but it did showcase most of the virtues of the country’s two leading teams. Ayr got off to an inspired start, scoring the opening try with barely 40 seconds on the clock, and after the teams went in level at the break they controlled the third quarter to take an 18-11 lead. But Melrose had the energy and self-belief to stage a late recovery, and after they equalised with quarter of an hour to go, Scotland Sevens international Nyle Godsmark grabbed the winner with minutes to spare.

“It’s good to come away with something from the season,” said the centre, whose twin brother Ryan won the Belgian Cup final on the same day with La Hulpe. “We just missed out last week and were pretty gutted, but it has changed now and we’re pretty chuffed to go back with the Scottish Cup.

“We just tried to get the basics right. We gave away penalties last week and they got their points. We tried to cut down the penalties, keep the ball, move them around a bit and be good in contact area, where they disrupted us a lot last week.”

Melrose’s lineout drive was also much improved on the first game at the Greenyards, and that ability to correct their mistakes quickly from one match to another has to augur well for the coming seasons, according to head coach Robert Chrystie. “I think there’s a lot of growth in this team,” he said. “They’re all going to stay together and I think we can push on even further next year and play some better rugby.”

Ayr will have to replace the departing Ross Curle and Will Bordill next season, but their coach, Calum Forrester, is confident that the bulk of the team will stay in place and keep improving. “The performances of Stafford McDowall the last couple of weeks show he’s certainly ready to step up [and replace Curle], which is great for someone of such a young age,” Forrester said. “We’ve got Tommy Spinks coming in as well, as a replacement for Will Bordill, essentially.

“We’ve not made massive changes each season,” he said. “We’re not mass recruiters. I’m very comfortable with this group of players and where they’ve grown over the last couple of years, and hopefully they’ll continue to grow into bigger and better things if that is possible next season.”

The make-up of the top division in 2017-18 will finally be known on Saturday, when Edinburgh Accies, second in National 1, take on Hawick at Lasswade in the Premiership play-off. Marr have already gone up as champions of the second flight, and Forrester is looking forward to renewing the local rivalry with a club who are just 11 miles up the road from his own.

“Marr have done great things over the last couple of years,” he said. “They’ve got a group of players that have grown up together and they’ve now reached that top flight. Rugby in the west is going so strong - the top four leagues were won by teams from the west and Dumfries as well this year.

“It is two proper derby matches now. Traditionally it’s been Hawks. It’ll be great for the league, for us and Marr to be able to promote that game. I look forward to those tussles over the coming season.

“I think they’ve got a very good set-up. They’ve got a good group of players who were at school together and have grown up together. They’ll give it absolutely everything next year and I think they’ll be in a good place.”

The arrival of another ambitious club in the Premiership can only be a good thing. It remains to be seen, however, whether next season will be too early for Marr, or anyone else for that matter, to mount a challenge to the Melrose-Ayr duopoly.

Scorers: Melrose: Tries: Runciman, Taylor, Godsmark. Con: Jackson. Pen: Baggott 2.

Ayr: Tries: McCluskey, Bordill. Con: Climo. Pens: Climo 2.