Catt, a veteran of four World Cup tournaments, two World Cup finals, two Lions tours and 75 England Test appearances was invited to Millbrae in his capacity as ambassador for club sponsor Clydesdale Bank where he delivered a schools’ coaching clinic alongside club captain and development officer, Damien Kelly.

His visit co-incided with Ayr being recognised at the Scottish Rugby Club of the Month for February.

He said: “It is great to see a rugby club which is successful on the park and committed to encouraging local youngsters into the sport being recognised for its valuable work. The kids who come along to events like today and the coaching programmes which Ayr organise are the future of the sport.

“It’s encouraging to see so many young people keen to come along and keep fit while having fun, you never know some of them could even become the stars of Scottish rugby in years to come. Clubs like Ayr are at the heart of the community and the importance of the work which they do should not be underestimated.”

Ayr became the first Scottish club to make the knockout stages of the British & Irish Cup, beating Pool opponents Llandovery (20-19) to line up a winner-takes-all encounter with Doncaster Knights, which they won 21-17.

Despite the demands of the cross-border competition, Ayr also maintained their challenge at the top of Premier A, edging past Hawick at Mansfield Park (7-6).

But the award isn’t all about the success of the 1st XV.

The Ayrshire outfit has invested heavily in developing rugby in the surrounding area and, in partnership with Scottish Rugby, Ayrshire Council and Carrick Academy, employs full-time  development team lead by Kelly which includes sessional coach Dougie Steele and SVQ community coach, Michael Kirk, to support the surge in participation.

Recent successes include their West Division 1 winning under-16 side who lifted the title undefeated while also making the final of National Youth League Cup where they will face Stirling County at Murrayfield in May.

Such success has seen many of their youngsters pick up representative honours with centres, Mark Bennett and Robbie Fergusson, called up to Scotland under-20 and under-18 respectively, the latter starting in Scotland’s 26-18 win over England on Sunday.

Club development officer, Kelly, said: “The club’s going really well. Not only are our participation numbers high but we have a good coaching set-up with UKCC qualified coaches at every age group.

“The award is greatly appreciated. I think it’s good that the coaches know that their hard work is recognised. Hopefully the publicity of the success will help other clubs see our efforts, particularly through qualified coaching, as a model of good practice and take bits from it and earn similar success.

“Three years ago our S1/S2 team had about 12 players, now there’s a squad of 35 playing under-16s and preparing for a National Cup Final which is an outstanding achievement that everyone at the club can be proud of.”

As Club of the Month winners, Ayr are now automatically short-listed for the Club of the Season award which will be announced and presented at the annual Scottish Club Rugby Awards Dinner, held at Murrayfield on Friday 20 May, 2011.

For further information on the dinner please contact the Murrayfield Experience office on 0131 346 5250 or This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it .