Wanderers U13 v Ellon (Away)

Played 3 x 15 Minute sessions.
Due to some players being unavailable this week, Wanderers had a reduced 15 man squad so only had 2 x subs for the match and some playing in unfamiliar positions.

1st 15 minutes:
Wanderers started strongly with a strong run from Craig leading to him touching down under the posts and Campbell converting.
However some loose tackling from Wands allowed Ellon onto the scoresheet with a converted try.
Craig grabbed a second try in this first 15 minute session, with Cam successfully converting, however Ellon managed to run in another 2 x tries, 1 converted .
End of first session Score: Wanderers 8 : 11 Ellon.

2nd 15 minutes:
Coaches made some substitutions to ensure everyone got game time.
Despite some strong individual performances in this session, Wanderers were unable to score whilst Ellon scored twice with 1 x successful conversion.
End of Second session Score: Wanderers 8 : 18 Ellon

3rd 15 Minutes:
Team was shuffled again to give maximum playing time to all, and to allow coaches to see how players got on in different positions.
Wanderers fought back strongly in this last session with great solo effort tries from Cam and Sam, Cam converting his own try, and narrowly missing the second attempt. Wands looked a little sharper in attack and the score difference was narrowed to just 3 points, however some loose defending allowed Ellon to score again, the conversion was missed. Wands responded strongly and some powerful long distance running from Craig got him across the try line, aware that Wanderers needed maximum points, Craig cut in to touch down under the posts and unfortunately was a victim of the very narrow dead ball area and was judged to have touched the ball against the dead ball line when grounding, thus no try was awarded. The referee was a little uncertain of the rules re this so there was some time out to clarify which took the momentum out of the match, with the game ending shortly after.
Final Score: Wanderers 15 : 21 Ellon.

Congratulations to Ellon on a strong team performance, many strong individual performances from the Wanderers players, but less of a cohesive performance as a team versus the way they have played in previous weeks. Handling errors and a few missed tackles meant Wanderers were always chasing Ellon to try and catch up.
Again very encouraging to see the newer players in the squad contribute strongly.
MOTM awarded to James Street for a very solid performance in the pack, with a memorable catch and powerful run when receiving a re-start.