S1 Ellon Rugby v Madras S1/2

Ellon S1&2 combined headed down to St Andrews on a chilly morning this Sunday. Pitches were good on the coast in Fife and the weather was kind.
They played S1 rules but 15 aside, which suited both teams, Madras are used to playing S1/2 together as it is how they play usually, while Ellon normally play S1 and S2 separately.
The game was split into three twenty minute periods, and Ellon treated it as three separate “games” so as to use all players and change a few positions about.
In the first period, Ellon started a little slow and let Madras take a couple of tries early lead. Madras lacking a good kicker, the score was kept to tries only. Ellon started to push back with some good forward breaks and runs, but the slower support play meant they missed out too often. A couple of 3v2 on the wings were scuppered by flat running also. Ellon held up against a strong Madras scrum, even turning over one against the head as S1 Dylan Kemp from flanker scrapped the ball back as it was popping out. Madras scored a couple more tries along with the conversions. Ellon again probed with the forwards and got to within 10 meters of the try line, before Madras turned the ball over. Next tackle Kemp stole the ball back and regained the lost ground before, repeated penalties from Madras, led to 5 m penalty which was run in by S2 prop Craig, converted by S1 Ewan Orus. Final Score in the first third/game was 18 – 4 to Madras.
Second period, Ellon made 4 subs and had a slight rearrange of the team. It became a hard 20 minutes, with the defensive line not pushing up enough and missed tackles, although Madras used good game sense to target players to beat. Madras took the third 13 – 0.
For the final third, Ellon swapped the team a third time to play the strongest team they could for that period. Although both sets of players were tiring, Ellon pushed hard this third. Much more aggressive in the breakdown Ellon won most of the rucks, and turned ball over in the maul also. At scrum they began to dominate pushing Madras back and setting up a good foot hold for the backs. Some good passing from a scrum led to S2 James Hamilton going over for a well worked passing try, converted by Orus. From the kick off Ellon attacked again and used some good kicking to pin Madras back in the corner. From the line out Kemp broke at the back and made 15 m before being tackled and stripped as the remaining forwards were a little slow to react. However Ellon did get their defensive line up fats this third and really put Madras backs under pressure. They ended up dropping the ball and S1 Gregor McKenzie reacted first to pick up and score. For the first time this season Orus missed the conversion. From the next play Madras kicked and the bounce was lucky enough to come back to them to score and unconverted try. Final score in the final third/game was a win to Ellon 3 – 7.
Great to end the game with a winning third, even if they lost the whole game overall. Seeing as it was the first game since early December, it was a great challenge for the team.

Up next is Hillfoots away, also at S1/2 combined, on 14th February.