Match Report - Sunday 02/10/16 - Aberdeen Rugby (27) v Ellon (19)

Ellon U13 team played their best rugby yet this season in the Red Conference against Aberdeen Rugby with a great team effort. The first period opened with Aberdeen attacking the Ellon defense which held to begin with however Aberdeen scored in the third minute after evading tackles and scoring in the corner. Ellon then countered and were applying their own pressure towards the Aberdeen line however they conceded a scrum which Aberdeen took advantage of and ran past our defense to score in the sixth minute. The restart did not go well with Ellon spilling the ball forward and Aberdeen picking it up and punishing Ellon by scoring in the eighth minute, taking the score to three tries to nil at this point in the game. Ellon then regrouped and started to move the ball through their hands out towards the wings and advanced steadily forward. This resulted in Arron Whitaker scoring Ellon's first try of the game in the twelfth minute. Ellon were then under pressure from Aberdeen at the restart and had to defend near their try line. Ellon managed to turn over the ball and pass it wide to Ryan Dickie who then made a full pitch run to score Ellon's second try in the last seconds of the first period. Aberdeen 10 points to Ellon 7 points.

The second period opened with Aberdeen kicking to Ellon, however our handling skills let us down as Ellon lost possession and again were punished by Aberdeen in the second minute, quickly followed by more handling errors gifting the ball to Aberdeen for them to score in the forth minute too. Ellon then managed to settle themselves and started to play some good rugby, making tackles, rucking effectively and retaining possession which paid off in the tenth minute when Arron Whitaker received the ball and ran towards the Aberdeen line beautifully side stepping two Aberdeen defenders to score. Unfortunately Aberdeen countered and scored their third try in the thirteenth minute bring the total scores at the end of the period: Aberdeen 20 points to Ellon 11 points.

The final period was where Ellon really stepped up the pressure and their hunger to win really showed with Ellon scoring in the third minute and then the eighth minute by keeping possession, running hard through the middle and then moving the ball to the wings for Ryan Dickie to run in two tries and converting them bring the score to Aberdeen 20 points to Ellon 19 points. Aberdeen then rallied and Ellon had to defend hard on their touchline with Aberdeen not scoring a try due to a double movement of the ball on the ground by Aberdeen. The resulting scrum at the five metre line Ellon were pushed back and had to touch down for another scrum at the five metre line where Aberdeen took advantage and scored in the thirteenth minute taking the score to Aberdeen 24 points to Ellon 19. Ellon were then under pressure again in the closing minute when a decisions went against us (handling on the ground) allowing Aberdeen to score a try in extra time. Final score Aberdeen 27 v 19 Ellon. All the lads should be proud of their efforts today as you all showed great spirit and took the game to Aberdeen. I would also like to say a big thank you to Daniel Ruddy and Arron Whitaker for their efforts today for the team.

Awards for today:
Best Forward: Daniel Ruddy
Best Back: Ryan Dickie
Best Rugby Attitude: Ryan Hanton (Captain)