Hawick 22 - 36 Ayr: Ayr raid successful but they'll need to improve

IF THEIR second place in last season's Premiership caused disappointment at Millbrae, then Ayr's opening salvo in this year's campaign suggests that the men in pink are determined to atone for their title loss.

Yet, against a Hawick side revelling in their return to the top tier, Ayr, admittedly missing key players, fell somewhat short of championship-winning form. Yes, the physicality that won them the Cup at Murrayfield last season was evident but there were lapses in defence that allowed Hawick to run in four tries, two by Neil Renwick, and one each from Bruce McNeil and Danny Landels to claim a deserved bonus point. Indeed had Hawick had a reliable kicker then Ayr might have struggled to overcome the Greens, whose only goal was a touchline conversion by Stuart Hogg. But with 15 points missed through wayward goal kicking this must be a serious area of concern for coach Deek Armstrong.

The new head coach, however, is aware that his squad still have to readjust to Premier One rugby. "Division two was a bit of a comfort zone and probably affected our play. The big difference is the intensity. We made four mistakes and they scored four tries from them."

Centre Mark Stewart was the main beneficiary of slack tackling with a hat-trick, the other Ayr scores coming from Ross Curle and Jamie Hunter.

Ayr coach Kenny Murray added to the optimism at Mansfield Park, saying: "Hawick will get better and will give a few teams a fright this season."

That will certainly be true with the return of Rory Hutton, who is expected to form a strong partnership with their talented teenager and centre, Stuart Hogg.

Hawick are expected to further strengthen their back line with the reintroduction of John Coutts while for Ayr, skipper Damien Kelly should be back for this weekend's clash with Melrose at Millbrae.

Scorers: Hawick: Tries: Renwick 2, D Landels, McNeill. Con: S Hogg. Ayr: Tries: Stewart 3, Curle, Hunter. Cons: Curle 4. Pen Curle.

Hawick: N Renwick; C Robertson, G Johnstone, G Hogg, S Anderson; S Hogg, G Cottrell; B McNeil, M Landels, S Linton, C Charters, M Robertson, N MacTaggart, D Landels, D Lowrie. Subs: G Lowrie, R Sutherland, A Marsh, H Scammell.

Ayr: G Anderson; S Manning, M Bennett, M Stewart, C Taylor; R Curle, AJ MacFarlane; G Reid, S Adair, S Fenwick, D Craig, J Young, J Crossan, A Dunlop, G Tippet. Subs: S Forrest, J Hunter, N Cox, A Kelly.

Referee: J van der Merwe.