Many Thanks to Lars for this report - sounds like a great match had by all, gutted I missed it - Jake

A hard fought and well deserved win for the lads. The low score line pays tribute to the excellent defence of both teams and defence is really what today’s game was about. Particularly good to see after the work put into this area over the week since RGC.

Ellon played the first half with the wind on their backs and unfortunately failed to really capitalise on that with territory. Each team had opportunities to break but every time this was put down with excellent defence. Both teams had handling errors, probably as a result of the wind. Ellon’s best chance came midway through the half when Dylan J, made an attacking chip over the defence from first phase ball on the 22, defender failed to gather and the bounce was favourable for Dylan to gather. He was stopped just short of the line and the ball was eventually lost. The deadlock was finally broken at the stroke of half time when Sam managed to slip through the slightest of gaps to the side of a ruck on the 22 and just had the pace to make the line.

5-0 at halftime, but now Ellon had to play straight into an ever increasing wind. With continuous pressure for 8 mins or so Wanderers managed to narrow our defence and went in for a fairly easy try, converted it and suddenly we are behind. The lads did regroup and really ground their way back into the match. The forwards were dominant in the scrums and challenged well in the line-outs. The strong defence held and we managed to get a couple of breaks, eventually leading to a strong drive from about 10 meters and Ruari’s try put us ahead. With an extremely tense 10 mins to go, the defence was strong and we did manage to get over the line again but Ryan couldn’t get to ground. Finally the whistle.

Good Stuff: Rush defence from the forwards, halfbacks and three quarters was well executed and gave them no space to use the ball. Cover tackles on the wings and from fullback were solid and the lads used the touch line to turn over ball. The defensive structure was generally good, although at times we once again lacked width. As is essential the lads were dynamic in defence.

To Improve: Why did we have to defend so much? Too many turnovers! Handling errors aside, we lost the ball going into contact too often. Quite a number of times the ball was stripped from the carrying player at contact, we need to protect the ball. Also, although better than last week, we are still too slow getting the bullet in at the ruck and not aggressive enough at driving the first opponent back at the ruck. Finally, decision making needs to be sharper (this will come), look to see where the opposition is lining up their defence and importantly, think about the conditions, strong wind etc.

Great to try some players in new positions, have some players back in the fold and we are looking good for future development. Big thanks to our injured team mates for their vocal support, and to Mrs Moroney (Dylan J’s gran) for half time oranges. On a final note, Ruari Anderson gets MOTM. He demonstrated lots of power on the ball in attack and was extremely dynamic in defence, well done.

Time to build on this and take on Deeside/Garioch!