Ellon U15 played Stirling County in the Plate Final of the Caledonia Cup on a sunny day in St Andrews.
It was a tough game with some very tight refereeing, something the Ellon boys will need to learn to work with.
Ellon received the ball from kick off, and controlled the ball well, releasing Fin Ritchie, however, he took a bump early on and had to be subbed for Josh Andrew on 5 minutes. Stirling moved up the park and got a penalty close to the posts, slotted for 0-3.
Ellon worked back up the pitch and released Reese Melling to run and break 2 tackles, offloading and quick hands saw Euan Bonner Score, converted by Ben Dickie for 7 -3 lead. Ellon then attacked from the restart and close to scoring, but knocked on close to the line. Ellon were prevented from scrummaging more than 0.5m (should be 1.5 m) which was a shame as they dominated this area. Stirling broke away from their half, scoring a converted try. In the next restart, Stirling turned over at the breakdown and then placed a fantastic kick over the top to some space, running on to score and unconverted try. At this point it was 7-15. On 23 minutes, Dylan Kemp continued his domination at the line out stealing the Stirling ball. This went through two passes, but again Stirling stole the ball at the breakdown and attacked. Stirling however knocked on. Ben Dickie broke from the scrum, and ran 30 meters. In the next phase, Kia Taylor was doing well up to this point but he took a whip lash injury and had to be subbed off. Mat Lusher came on just before half time.
Second half Ellon began really well, trying to dominate the game, but not allowed to due to the penalty count. Josh Andrew now took a knee knock and had to come off. Ellon had run out of backs and now put Tom Gray on and moved Lewis Duncan to the backs. In the phases that led, Ellon went very quickly every time and Ben Dickie put Archie Falconer in to score using his great strength in the leg drive. 12 - 15 to Stirling with 15 minutes left. Ellon had possession but just were not allowed to play. Multiple penalties against them gave the ball back to Stirling every time, Stirling eventually made the most and scored a converted try. With Ellon pushing hard at the end, Stirling closed the game out and won the game 12-22.
Well done to Stirling County and well done to Ellon to keeping going in a tough game.

Ellon U15 head to Edinburgh next weekend for Boroughmuir 10s tournament.