Match Report – Sunday 25/09/16 – Ellon (4) v Mackie (43)

Ellon U13 played at home this weekend against a strong Mackie team. The first period opened with Mackie electing to receive the ball from the kick off to gain possession and carry the game to Ellon. The Ellon lads managed to slow the Mackie advance with some good tackles and the rucks were fairly even at this early stage in the match, however Mackie were advancing ever steadily towards the try line and Mackie scored from the back of a scrum at five minutes into the period. Ellon took the restart quickly and applied their own pressure, hitting up the middle of the field to gain ground then moving the ball wide for Ryan Dickie to score in the eighth minute. The rest of this period saw some good scrum work by both teams and a lot of hard hitting action in the middle of the field with neither team managing to break through strong defences. Mackie just applied that little bit more pressure and Ellon were caught on the back foot as Mackie scored in the final minute of the first period. Ellon one converted try to Mackie’s two converted tries.

The second period started with Ellon receiving the ball, however Mackie were very fast with their line speed and put Ellon under pressure which resulted in a few handling errors which Mackie took advantage of moving the ball to their wings and scoring within two minutes, followed closely by another try two minutes later, again moving the ball to the wings. The Ellon boys then pulled their socks up and started to make their tackles and hold Mackie in the middle of the pitch. The scrums were a little messy with Mackie applying pressure and wheeling the scrum more than 45 degrees which resulted in a penalty to Ellon. Again Ellon made it hard for themselves by trying to bash through the middle of the field and eventually losing a ruck where Mackie took advantage, moved the ball wide again and ran in another try in the eighth minute. Mackie then turned up the pressure and full back Daniel Gillies made some impressive try saving tackles to stop Mackie, however Mackie scored again in the final minute of the period. Mackie score four converted tries and unfortunately none for Ellon.

The final period opened again with the Ellon lads under pressure from Mackie resulting in a score within two minutes for Mackie. Ellon then lost Sam Douglas to a knee injury and he was off the field. This final period saw some great moments of good play by Ellon as they never gave up, however it also exposed the support play needed to be better and rucking needed to be stronger. Mackie did not dominate the final period, however lack of support play by Ellon allowed Mackie to turn over the ball time and time again which resulted in Mackie running in five tries in the last period. The Ellon lads should not be too disappointed in the score line as there were some tremendous phases of play and plenty to be proud of however it just didn’t come together on the day. Plenty of things to work on at the next training sessions, so keep up the good work lads.

Awards for today:
Best Forward: Sam Douglas
Best Back: Daniel Gillies
Best Rugby Attitude: Liam Ritchie