All Ellon Rugby games were Saturday this weekend as Ellon First XV took on Grangemouth Stags at home and the Youth headed to Gordonstoun near Elgin.
Ellon First XV took on a strong Grangemouth team in their first meeting for a decade. Grangemouth have been in Caledonia 1 for a while now and know how to play at this level, while Ellon are still finding their feet in what was their second game in the league after promotion.
Ellon ran out at 15:00 in their brand new strips, sponsored by Aberdeen Heating and GDH Development Ltd, looking great in the clubs new strips. Going back to the original colours across the whole club, the First team took centre stage with the first outing.
The game didn’t start well for Ellon though as in the first minute Grangemouth gathered the ball and ran back at Ellon, who missed their tackles to allow the Grangemouth centre to run in their first converted try. Ellon pegged back three points from a penalty through the boot of a Ross Greig, before Grangemouth kicked two penalties themselves. The game went back and forth for a while, until Grangemouth again broke clear to score a converted try to finish half time 3-20 to Grangemouth.
Second half saw a change from the bench as Ellon brought on the big props, instantly making a difference in the game, breakdowns went Ellon’s way more and Ellon took full control of the scrums, keeping the ball in and driving Grangemouth back every scrum. It was Grangemouth that scored first from a penalty, before Nicki Fraser went over for a classic props try, converted by Ross Grieg. Grangemouth score next with a converted try, before Mark Galloway scored closely followed by James Halmshaw, with one conversion to Ross Grieg. However controversial on 65 minutes Grangemouth had a front row player come off the pitch injured and claimed no front row cover so the scrums had to go uncontested. A massive shame as it is a huge part of the game and an area Ellon were dominating and getting the go forward from. Grangemouth held on and won under immense pressure from Ellon. Final score 22-30, a game Grangemouth probably just deserved to win, due to the missed tackles more than the uncontested scrums. Man of the Match to Angus Craig.

Meanwhile that morning over in Elgin at Gordonstoun private school Ellon Youth played across the age bands. Big wins at U18 10-60, U16 0-24, U15 26-71, U13 15-31; but missing out at U14 28-18. Some great results as at U16, U15, U14 Ellon only had 15 players a team with no subs.
Most pleasing is the top and bottom end. U18 performed outstanding against Gordonstoun, while at U13 they are 4/4 wins with even game time for all, gaining experience in the conference system for the first time. However U16 did exceptionally well with their captain Logan Vavangas and Caledonia hooker Archie Falconer both out injured, travelling with 15 players only, they pulled a great game out. Defending constantly for 24 minutes in the first half, they stopped all Gordonstoun attacks and when they finally got free, Ellon scored in their first attack with big 8 Fin Hagen scoring. This was followed with Fin Hagen scoring another and Ben Dickie converting for 0-12 lead at half time. Second half went 0-12 to Ellon also with Kai Taylor and Fraser Chalk scoring tries via the backs and Ben Dickie converting one. Head coach Gareth Kemp said “A solid performance, especially in defence. Everyone stepped up a level, especially Dylan Kemp and Adam Fowlie who both got man of the match”.

Ellon Youth now move to second overall in the Whole club conference, as well as first at U18, second at U16, U15, with U14 and U13 not in a league table, although their points count to the overall club table.

This coming Saturday, Ellon First XV are away to Hillfoots, Ellon Youth U13-18 are home to Dundee Rugby, split over Saturday and Sunday. Juniors head to Howe of Fife.