First XV played at home to the team directly above them in Caledonia 1 (although Ellon have 2 games in hand), Glenrothes.
Ellon drew on 4 players from the U18 squad as they looked to develop these players, and it was one of these that started the scoring for Ellon. Caleb Jack kicked a penalty after 10 mins and then scored again with a try and conversion, making it 10-0 after 13 minutes. The game became a little closer then as Glenrothes countered well and held strong in defence. On the break of half time, Jordan Kelley ran in a wide try with again Caleb converting.
As the second half went on, Ellon’s youth and strong players came through and they began to dominate the game. Jordan Kelley scored again on 60 minutes, then Captain Brad Fraser on 66, Ross Greig on 69 and finally Doug Sharp on 74 mins, with 3 converted. Glenrothes scored a try and a penalty to make the final score: Ellon First XV 43 – 8 Glenrothes.
Staying in 5th spot, Ellon face Hillfoots at home Saturday 16th November as the only game in Caley 1. This will allow Ellon to catch up one fixture and with a win, Ellon could go 3rd!
The Second XV were light on players last weekend, with 25 Senior players unavailable for both teams, the Seconds relied on a few of the Old Boys “Ythan Bears” to join the squad. Playing a tough game against Deeside away, who had a few of their U18 players in the squad, Ellon dominated all set piece from all scrums to lineouts. However the pace and fitness of Deeside led to a win to Deeside 69 – 5. Ellon Seconds sit comfortably second in the League and have a rest weekend this coming weekend.
The youth section played in the Lancer Conference away at Mackie, who are Ellon’s closest rivals in the conference. Mackie fielded a much better team at U18 than the previous fixture. In a close game, Ellon eventually won 10-12. However as previously stated, four main players for the U18 were playing in the First XV.
On the Sunday U13 dominated their fixture winning 10-24, while the U14 lost 28-18, U15 lost 60-7 and U16 lost 52-10.
In the U16 game, Mackie scored early and then almost every 4 minutes for the first third! Ellon scored a well worked lineout into maul try on 20 minutes by Daniel Ruddy. Half time was 26 – 5.
Second half Mackie scored 4 more tries, but Ellon never gave up and played some good attack rugby to score their second try, with defence turned into attack off a turn over and fast passing and offloading for Josh Andrew to go over to score. Similar to the Seconds game, Ellon dominated the Scrum and Lineout, but were beaten in defence.
In the overall Lancer Youth Conference Whole Club position, Ellon sit second behind Mackie by 2 points. At U18 Ellon are second behind Deeside/Garioch, at U16 second behind Mackie and U15 Third. U18 have the chance to finish top, while U16 likely to finish second and U15 third if fixtures go as expected.
This weekend are friendlies on Saturday for the Youth. U18 at 11:30 and U16 U14 both at 10:00, against Orkney as Ellon look to support those clubs that don’t get many game opportunities.
Mid-week Ellon will be represented playing for Caley U19 at the indoor super4s event in Edinburgh. Ellon have four players in the Caley Squad – Jack Duncan, Caleb Jack, Daniel Brown and James Hamilton.