191207 U14s Gordonstoun

Very similar result as the last Mackie game except the lads didn't let their heads drop as Gordonstoun started coming back into the game.

We were 10 points up at half time but there was a clear change in mental attitude between the 2 teams. I wouldn't say the Ellon U14's took their foot off the gas much at all in the second half, but Gordonstoun obviously became more fired up and their stronger, more aggressive attitude allowed them to turn the match around.

The new defensive set up worked really well for us and the bigger lads made some awesome clear outs to turn over the ball. Unfortunately, we still missed quite a lot of tackles and whilst we've worked really hard on it, having our stronger lads spread out across the field started to show as our line was broken by some of the stronger Gordonstoun runners several times.

Our back line needs a lot of work - I honestly don't remember us getting the ball out to our wings much at all. The line was too close together, too flat and just not set up for us to exploit the wings. We had several men over several times but never really exploited this. Defo an area for us to concentrate on in training and ensure the forward pod does not get involved with the back line attacking options..

Players player was Ryan who also captained for the first time. He made some great line breaks and some big tackles so this shout from the lads was well deserved. Coaches player was Odhran - even though we asked him to try and stay in the middle of the field and lead the defence, he still seemed to pop up all over the field, carried the ball well, offloaded and tackled really well.

A special mention for Aaron and Finn - Aaron seemed to clean up nearly all the missed tackles and provided an awesome final line of defence. The score line would have been considerably different if he had not covered so well but we shouldn't be expecting our full back to be doing this many emergency tackles in a match...…. Finn played his first competitive match and was involved with some good tackles and a few ball carries. I didn't agree with the ref pinging him for being held in the tackle and encourage all the lads to always get up and play on if you're not held.

Gordonstoun only had a handful of strong runners and I thought it was encouraging that our defence was starting to identify this as the match progressed. We started losing some shape in the final quarter and they started targeting our smaller players for breaking the line. Overall, very pleased to see the lads not drop their heads - loads of learning to be had from this match and we continue to build from here.