Peter Laverie, the Ayr coach, was in no mood to celebrate his side's ultimately clinical triumph over Currie on Saturday at Millbrae, writes David Kelso.
Instead, his thoughts were with fellow coach Ally Donaldson, whose close friend and teaching colleague Iain Brown, head of PE at George Watson's College in Edinburgh, died suddenly on Saturday morning.
Laverie said after the 29-0 success: "Like many rugby people in Scotland, I was deeply saddened to hear the news about Iain. Ally had sent me a text on Friday night to apologise for not being able to get to Millbrae as he was in Newcastle with the school team, so it must have been a difficult trip for everyone.
The scoreline was locked at 0-0 for the bulk of the contest, but when Ayr clicked into gear, they were unstoppable.
"Currie defended passionately in the first half and managed to hold us out as we hammered their line," said Laverie. "It was a bit frustrating to go in at half time without anything to show for our efforts. The second half started much the same way but eventually the floodgates opened as we stretched the Currie defence to score five very good tries [Dean Kelbrick (2), Ross Curle, Callum Templeton and Grant Anderson were the scorers] and claim the all-important bonus point."
Glasgow Hawks' Ally Maclay, back in harness after his stint in Hong Kong, felt that his side's 29-27 defeat by Melrose at the Greenyards was one that got away.
"The desire was there, but we need to develop confidence in ourselves in terms of not panicking when we have the ball in a good attacking position," he said. "We have done enough after promotion to suggest were can be in the mix and mount a challenge, but the bottom line is we have to learn to turn the close games into wins." Damien Hoyland went over twice for the home side, with Haddon MacPherson also notching a brace for Hawks.
Gala surged to a deserved 33-21 bonus-point triumph over Aberdeen Grammar at Netherdale after cranking up the pace after the interval. The visitors competed strongly, but had no answer to the second-half burst, which yielded tries for Alan Emond, Tom Weir, Graham Speirs and George Graham. David O'Hagan was also in fine form with the boot, landing four conversions, while Graeme Clow scored 16 Aberdeen points in vain.
Hawick were surprise 34-22 winners over form-horses Edinburgh Accies at Raeburn Place, claiming a precious bonus point in the process. Michael Fedo sparked the try charge, the others coming from Rob McAlpine, Lee Armstrong and Rory Hutton, and Neil Renwick rubbed in the Greens' superiority by banging over all four conversions and two penalties.
A last-gasp score from the Scotland Sevens player James Fleming enabled Heriot's to edge out Stirling County 18-13 at Bridgehaugh.
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