Match Report - Saturday 17/09/16 - Gordonstoun (30) v Ellon (16)

Ellon U13 headed up to Gordonstoun for their red conference fixture at the weekend. The lads played some good rugby after a slow start but again some basic mistakes allowed the home team to take advantage and take the win.

The first period of play saw Gordonstoun winning the toss and electing to receive the kick off from Ellon. This put our boys under pressure straight away and Gordonstoun went one try up within the first minute. Ellon composed themselves for the restart but again Gordonstoun capitalised on a handling error and ran in their second try in the fourth minute and another in the seventh minute. Ellon then managed to sort themselves out and started making the tackles and retaining possession by rucking over the ball and moving steadily forward exerting their own pressure, which eventually paid off with winger Liam Ritchie scoring a try in the left corner in the twelfth minute. The first period of play ended with three converted tries to Gordonstoun and one converted try to Ellon.

Gordonstoun started the second period of play just as strongly as the first and saw them driving hard into the Ellon forwards and pushing them back to defend. That steady pressure resulted in Gordonstoun scoring again in the second minute. Ellon finally composed themselves and started playing rugby and moving the ball from the rucks out to the wings but Gordonstoun were quick on their line speed and Ellon found it hard to make any forward ground. Gordonstoun then won a lineout and moved the ball wide and ran in a second try in the sixth minute. Ellon restarted with good pressure and Ryan Hanton was denied a score with a hard hitting try saving tackle from a Gordonstoun player which meant Ryan had to come off to catch his breath after the hard hit. Again Ellon did not give up and it was a fairly even match for the rest of the second period with Gordonstoun scoring their third try in the twelfth minute and Ryan Dickie scoring for Ellon in the fifteenth minute in the dying seconds of the period. This period ended with Gordonstoun scoring three tries with one conversion and there was one converted try for Ellon.

The final period started with Ellon attacking and on the front foot and hungry to get some points. This lead to the forwards working together more as a team with Patrick Bridges making some good strong ball carrying runs into the Gordonstoun pack, however Ellon kept to this attack plan rather than passing the ball out to the wings which resulted in a tough battle in the middle of the field with each team having to work hard attacking and defending through the pack. This tough period resulted in Gordonstoun running in another two converted tries in the sixth and ninth minute, however Ellon gave as good as they got and Sam Douglas scored a try by great support play, receiving the ball from Ryan Dickie's offloaded for Sam to score in the eleventh minute. Ellon kept the pressure on and Ryan Hanton was rewarded for his efforts with a try in the fourteenth minute. The final period ended with two converted tries each.

Therefore to conclude a great physical game played by the lads and they were just unlucky to let Gordonstoun take an early lead with the fast scored tries at the start of the first and second periods. Final score Gordonstoun 30 v Ellon 16.

Awards for today:
Best Forward: Sam Douglas
Best Back: Liam Ritchie
Best Rugby Attitude: Matthew Stuart