First up Ellon Golden Oldies, the Ythan Bears, (over 35) played Mackie Mammoth’s in a tough friendly. Mackie came with a strong squad of 22 while Ellon only had 15. This gave Mackie an advantage as naturally at this age, the men get tired! Mackie took a 2 try lead, but Ellon came back strong, often dominating periods. Steve Brown took a knock to the head and was subbed off for a period at a great loss. Being the first game for the Bears for a while, it took some time to get in the swing of things. Into the final third tries through their Welsh players Jake and Gareth brought the score to 4 apiece. Mackie brought on all the big players who had managed a rest, and after a talking to by the referee for infringements, they managed to score a final winning try. Final score was 5 tries to 4 to Mackie.
Ythan Bears now have a festival in Glasgow, game against Howe of Fife, three way against Mackie and an English team, home festival and then the Scottish Golden Oldies Festival too look forward to.
This match was followed up by a very close First XV game between Ellon and Mackie. Ellon showing much improved and really making a huge effort did very well to pin back a strong Mackie. Although Mackie had the lead for the game, Ellon kept coming back and never lost touch. If the game had been 10 minutes more Ellon would have probably won. In the end tries by Jimmy Young and Ewan McIntyre and 2 penalties and a conversion by Nathan Emery, couldn’t bring the win. Final Score 18 - 19 A much improved team performance. Next week brings a rest week for Ellon.
The Seconds also played, with Aberdeen Wanderers unable to field; Ellon brought forward a fixture against the North Police. The Police came with 16 and Ellon had 12, so a Police player joined Ellon and they played 13 aside. The police soon took two injuries and the game really became 13 aside with no subs! It was a good game to watch and entertaining, with both teams attacking and defending well. Ellon had three players who had already played for the Golden Oldies earlier, so were suffering! Tries for the recently arrived Neil Scott (man of the Match), Jordan Bain, and Chris Conlan with a conversion by Jordan Bain saw Ellon notch up 17 points! However the police hit 47! Ellon Seconds were happy to get a run out and to score some tries.
Sunday saw the next instalment of Ellon V Mackie as S1 and S2 played each other in the morning. Honours were even as S1 lost and S2 won. At S2, The Ellon lads were up for this match having sustained a heavy defeat at the hands of Mackie in September 2014 at Stonehaven. On this occasion Ellon had a near full strength side and approached the game much more prepared and focused. For the first ten minutes the home side found themselves camped in their own half under continual attack from the much larger Mackie forwards. The Ellon pack dug in and stout defending repelled any Mackie attempts to cross the try line. Eventually a loose ball was fly hacked up the pitch into the Mackie 22 and despite being penalised at the breakdown Ellon won the ball at the next ruck and some good phases of play saw Cody Bartlett go over for a score, unfortunately the same player missed the conversation. Again the bigger Mackie pack, content on playing a forward dominated game, tried to rumble through the Ellon pack who to their credit stood up to their opponents knocking back phase after phase of attacks. Eventually Mackie knocked on, Ellon were able to gather the ball which they shipped onto Ally Fitzgerald who outpaced the Mackie backs to run almost the entire length of the pitch to score under the posts. Kerr McCluskey slotted the conversation.

Mackie kicked off straight to Scottie Sutherland who ran the ball back at the Mackie players taking play into the Mackie 22. The next 10 minutes saw Ellon camped in the Mackie half. Mackie were penalised for an infringement at the breakdown. Ellon kicked to the corner for the line out which they won with ball shipped to Camran Taylor who rampaged over for Ellon's 3rd try. The conversion was missed. Half time and Ellon led 10-0. Into the second half which Mackie kicked off. Again the ball was gathered by Scottie Sutherland who went on another great run taking the ball well into the Mackie half. The visiting team were penalised for a ruck infringement which Ellon kicked to the corner. 5 meters out and Ellon called a front line out ball, Adam falconer caught the Mackie defence sleeping, gathered the ball and crashed over for a try. Conversion missed. The next ten minutes saw a bit of a dog fight in midfield with Mackie trying to change tactics and ship the ball to their backs. Some great defending in midfield by the Ellon backs snubbed out any threat. Mackie knocked on presenting Ellon with a scrum. From the scrum a planned Ellon move saw the Ellon backs run the ball back into the Mackie 22. A great tackle from Mackie's fullback prevented an Ellon try, however Ellon were able to recycle quick ball to Cody Bartlett who went over for his second try of the game, which the same player converted. Clearly the Ellon team had won the game by this time but they were determined to prevent Mackie scoring. Strong defence saw Ellon repel the Mackie team time after time; however a moment of madness saw the Ellon fullback sin binned for a silly infringement. From the resultant penalty Mackie were able to roll over the Ellon line and score a try. The conversion however was missed. Despite being down to 14 men, the Ellon team came back strongly against their opponents after the restart and continual Ellon pressure saw the Ellon blindside flanker, Gregor Reynolds, turn over ball, which he fed to Adam Falconer who outstripped the Mackie defence to score his second try of the game. The conversion was missed.
Final whistle and Ellon S2's had deservedly beaten a strong opposition comfortably. Final score Ellon 20 Mackie 3.
In the afternoon, the weather was turning and the wind was up and some cold rain. Ellon Girls U18 played Biggar in the Brewin Dolphin Cup. It was a shortened game as Caithness were playing the winners the same day at the Meadows. Ellon Girls played well against a much more experienced team. Some players learning new positions did show, but the pack did exceptional work, winning all their own ball and a number against the head. Bethyn Kemp at Scrum half had to come off early, she was playing with injured thighs that she just couldn’t shake off. Biggar took a half time score of 20 nil, but Ellon came on strong in the second half. Mhairi Falconer score a great try for Ellon by breaking two tackles and sprinting for the line. Biggar came back to win 35 – 5, however a strong performance by the Ellon girls doing the club proud against a strong team.
Caithness went on to beat Biggar 15 0 but the Biggar girls were tired and had three players out injured. The weather also affected the girls and the final friendly between Ellon and Caithness was cancelled.
All in all a busy rugby weekend at Ellon and great to see the whole club out playing and supporting the teams.