Moray kept up their winning start to the 2026/27 Caledonian League North Division 1 with an absorbing 47-24 victory against Ellon last Saturday.
After the thrilling heroics of the previous week, this one initially appeared quite straightforward, with the home team playing uphill in the first half going in with a healthy 22-0 lead. Ellon refused to lie down however and a more competitive second half secured them a last minute four try bonus point to provide some cheer for their efforts.
As last week, Moray were pressed into an early reshuffle when scrum-half Finlay Reid had to leave the field with a nose injury. Although he would return to the fray, he was followed 15mins later by No 8 Lewis Small, with what appeared to be a much more painful upper body injury.
In between these incidents Moray had managed to take the lead with an unconverted try after good work by the Moray scrum. Impressive against a bigger Kinloss pack last week, they wasted no time in exerting their dominance, winning two penalties in quick succession. The second of these resulted in the Ellon hooker having to also exit the game. The 5m lineout from kick to touch was secured and centre Connor McWilliam detached from the maul to crash over from short range. 5-0
Rory Millar would make it 8-0 with a penalty kick on 20mins after Ellon were caught offside. A handful of minutes later a secured lineout on the visitors 22m would then see him dazzle the crowd with a weaving run, eluding several defenders to go in under the posts. His conversion made it 15-0.
With pressure mounting, things got harder for Ellon when they were reduced to 14 men for a yellow card offence. With Moray again pressing near the line the defender took out the scrum-half without the ball. A few phases after the ensuing scrum penalty, it was Connor McWilliam on hand to again crash over from short range. The simple conversion made it 22-0.
So far, so good for Moray but as half-time approached their injury woes were compounded when centre Ben Taylor turned an ankle and would have to leave the field for an extended period. Ellon had also started to get to grips in the scrum and their confidence in this area would grow.
Half-Time 22-0
It was Moray who struck first in the second half however, with a neat bit of work by stand-off Blair Garrick on 46mins. From a quick tap penalty 10m out, after Ellon were penalised for hands in the ruck, he received the pass and fed on to Millar. The captain was able to commit three defenders as Garrick looped outside him and take the return pass to score in the right corner. The missed conversion left it at 27-0.
Five minutes later Ellon got themselves on the board. Playing with more urgency and with a pack that had somehow turned the tables on their hosts, they too took a quick tap penalty 30m out and their back row forward cut a line through the defence for a converted try and 27-7 scoreline. They almost reduced the deficit further shortly after when a long kick and chase was only rescued by Moray just short of their goal line.
On 60mins, sensing the need to steady things, and having already secured the four try bonus point, a kicked penalty from 25m out by Rory Millar secured three more points. 30-7.
Ellon scored their second try three minutes later after disrupting the Moray scrum and recovering loose ball in the Moray backs. Their big substitute forward brushed aside a tackle to rumble in from 20m for a converted try. 30-14
Any hopes they had of rescuing the tie were extinguished with Moray going on to score a further 17pts. Firstly a penalty from Millar on 68mins, made it 33-14. He then received a sharp pass from the restart that took him between two defenders and into the opposition half before releasing winger Mark Newman to race home the final 40m. Ben Taylor would be glad to have re-entered the fray, when he was on hand to finish off a quick tap penalty move. Miller converted both tries. 47-14.
To their credit, Ellon stuck to their task and after the left wing scored an excellent kick and chase try from distance with five minutes to spare, they kept turning the screw and got their reward. From a line out on their own 10m line they kept the ball alive through multiple phases, inching closer to the Moray goal line and finally braking through as time expired. Both conversions were missed.
Final score 47-24
This was another fine result for a young team that's still developing.
This Saturday sees them travel to Inverness to play Highland 2nds in the third round of fixtures. Kick-off 3pm