U18 battle hard for another cup win

School trips, family outings and illness put a dent in Ellon numbers, but they managed to put a squad of 17 together, with a few players taking on brand new positions for the sake of the team. The players picked the team and sorted out the positions themselves, due to a technical hitch they also had to take the warm up.
It was a nervy start from both sides, with neither side taking the initiative, but a penalty just outside the Grammar 22 gave Ellon a 3 point lead with Paul Paxton converting.
Unfortunately this led to Grammar putting together some fine phases of attacking rugby which created an overlap which they scored from but the conversion was missed. 5-3
Again from the kick-off, Grammar took the game to Ellon and scored again from poor defending and a lack of communication. The conversion was good 12-3.
The score enabled the Ellon players to fix a couple of issues and get their focus back.
From this point on Grammar never got into the Ellon half, and after some good attacking play Ellon’s new centre Kieran Obrien crashed over for the score which Paul Paxton converted 12-10.
Neither team were giving anything away until a penalty for Ellon just outside the 22 was converted by Paul Paxton 13-12.
Just before halftime the Grammar scrum half was getting tired and took a tactical yellow like all good scrum halves, he returned just after half time.
Second half got under way and the match continued just as the first half. Ellon introduced their subs and shuffled a number of positions to accommodate the subs.
The game continued at the same pace with no quarter given by either side, however Ellon were beginning to disrupt their lineout.
An Ellon penalty just in Grammar half was put to touch 10m from Grammar line.
A clean catch, tidy ball to the back of the maul and a walk to the line from the forwards resulted in a great score straight from the training ground, with Jake Martin coming up with the ball, unfortunately the conversion was missed 18-12 with 20 minutes to go.
With the game on a knife edge, Ellon were giving away too many penalties and eventually the referee yellow carded Andrew Forbes.
With Ellon down to 14 this increased the tension for the both sides, but again Ellon stood firm with everything Grammar threw at them, 10 minutes passed and we were back to full strength, which turned the game more towards Ellon
The score still didn’t come even with a 2 man overlap which went a begging and Ellon were stopped just short of the line.
Supporters on the Ellon side couldn’t watch and the last few minutes took an age but eventually Ellon turned the ball over and launched it into touch and the final whistle blew. A hard fought win for Ellon, 18 12
Yet again a huge thanks to the ever increasing support on the sidelines.

S.Whyte, M.Poole, B.Fordyce, A.Ritchie, A.Forbes, J.Martin, G.Drummond, F.Cruickshank, N.Shirron, C.Macwilliam, R.Christie, P.Paxton, K.Obrien, N.Kellas, R.Taylor, C.Williamson, J.Munro