Late tries secure the win for Reds at Ellon
Ellon 26 – 34 Linlithgow
Saturday 13 September 2025
Match report by David Mitchell, photos courtesy of Craig Young
The Reds made the 300-mile round trip to face Ellon in this Arnold Clark National League Division 4 clash and came away as worthy winners. The pitch at The Meadows Sports Centre was in great condition albeit narrower than the Reds normally encounter. There was a strong and tricky breeze present throughout the match, but bright sunshine made for an enjoyable, if tense, encounter.
There were quite a few of the usual suspects from the Club present, continuing their long standing and much appreciated travelling support of the Reds. Front row changes saw Aiden Mochrie and Matt Sommerville start at prop and in addition there was the welcome return of Jamie Tulloch and a first outing of the season for centre Ruaridh Stewart from the bench.
The visitors made a blistering start with a try inside the 1st 5 minutes when, after good possession at the line-out, the ball went through several pairs of hands before it reached Jack Frame who spotted a gap and scooted over the line for a try to which he added the conversion. The home side responded by dominating the scrums throughout the half and using their big forwards to charge at the Reds’ defence, but a combination of solid defence and poor handling by Ellon kept the score at 0-7 until Jack Frame kicked a penalty to extend the lead to 0-10.
Eventually Ellon got onto the scoreboard aided by some uncharacteristically poor tackling by the Reds, and they scored 2 tries through their front row forwards with the addition of one conversion. The coaches made an early change to introduce Kieran Cochrane to shore up the pack and this immediately resulted in a more secure platform in the scrum. As half time approached the Reds conjured up an excellent team try with Luke O’Hare bursting into the line before a great exchange of passes, involving Ewan Curran and Murray Johnstone, sent centre Alfie Muir over for the try to give the visitors a narrow half time lead of 12-15.
With the home side having the strong wind behind them and only a 3 point deficit, it was going to need an outstanding performance to give the Reds victory, and the scene was set for a titanic battle in the 2nd 40 minutes.
The visitors realised that keeping the ball in hand was absolutely key to winning the game and they proceeded to demonstrate a high level of passing and offloading by backs and forwards alike. It was no surprise when the Reds scored the 1st try of the half with several highly skilled passes between Ross Tulloch, Murray Johnnstone and Ewan Curran taking play deep into Ellon territory. From there, the forwards and backs combined to create space for last week’s hat trick hero, Ewan Curran, to cross the line for a brilliant team try.
With the score at 12-20 there was always going to be a backlash from the home side. They stepped up their game to create a good try wide out on the right followed by another try through their prop forward and, with both tries being converted, they regained the lead at 26-20 with 20 minutes left to play.
By this stage Calum McKeown, Ruaridh Stewart and Eioan Magee had entered the fray and made valuable contributions. The test had been set by Ellon for the Reds to make yet another come back and the Reds played smart rugby in the closing stages. After another superb high ball take by the ever reliable Archie Rusack, he combined with Ewan Curran and the hard running winger careered into the defence and set up the ball for the forwards to deliver clean ball to Archie Rusack who passed to Jack Frame and he out-smarted the Ellon defence by cutting a fine reverse angle that allowed him to sprint the final 30 metres for a try. Unfortunately, he was injured in the act of scoring and could not attempt the conversion. However, Murray Johnstone sent the ball over the posts to give the visitors a slender 1 point lead.
Alfie Muir returned to the field to replace Jack Frame as the visitors looked to see out the last few minutes. By this stage Ellon’s big forwards were running on fumes and the Reds went for the kill to try and deny the home side a losing bonus point. Another bewildering array of passes and offloads led the Reds back upfield with almost every player appearing in the moves that eventually led to a well-deserved score from Jamie Tulloch who battled over for the final try. Murray Johnstone planted the conversion straight between the posts to deny the home side the losing bonus point.
The final few minutes were a virtual replica of last week’s game as the forwards retained the ball with some excellent low pick and drive moves to deny Ellon any access to the ball.
Final score: Ellon 26 – 34 Linlithgow Reds
Reds Team
Front row: Aiden Mochrie, Kyle Ormond, Matt Somerville
Second row: Lewis McGill, Fraser Mochrie (captain)
Back row: Euan Mochrie, Jamie Tulloch, Oscar Davies
Half-backs: Archie Rusack, Jack Frame
Centres: Murray Johnstone, Alfie Muir
Back three: Ewan Curran, Luke O’Hara, Ross Tulloch
Subs (all played):
Calum McKeown, Kieran Cochrane, Eioan Magee, Ru Stewart
Comment
Another fine away win to take 3rd place in Division 4 after 3 games. The patience and maturity shown throughout the team were commendable although some players still tended to occasionally go for outrageous offloads when a more patient and structured approach would have been appropriate. However, praise must be given to the vision and ambition to play exciting and attacking rugby.
There were some thumping tackles put in across the whole team including a shuddering hit in midfield by Kieran Cochrane that turned defence into attack. It was disappointing to give up 4 tries and it was even more so when 3 of the tries were very similar. The scrums did improve as the game went on and the line-out functioned well given the tricky conditions.
The team as a whole put in a great shift against bigger and heavier opposition and there were quite a few exhausted bodies who might have needed to refresh themselves thoroughly on the journey back to Linlithgow.
Next week is a home fixture against Moray with a 3pm start and hopefully there will be a bumper crowd to cheer the boys on as they fight to stay close to the top of the table.
Heriots nail 11 tries at Mains Park!
Linlithgow 2s 0 – 71 Heriots 2As
Saturday 13 September 2025
Report and photos by Ken Richardson
Meanwhile back at Mains Park, a young Reds 2nd XV had a tough outing against a very strong Heriots 2As team bolstered by a number of southern hemisphere and academy players. With over 70 at training each week, Heriots are able to put out 2s and 2As teams that most clubs would welcome into their first string outfits.
The Reds 2s were not helped by having only 15 players available, with coach Graeme McCallum ending up putting on his boots to come on as an injury substitute for the final 15 to 20 minutes.
Heriots ran nearly everything and, when they did kick, it was usually to great territorial advantage as their kick chase was superb. In addition, their set piece was very strong, securing a large amount of possession.
It’s not often you can say well done to a team that conceded 11 tries, but the Reds 2s never gave up and continued to battle right to the end of an extended second half – six successive penalties kept the clock running well past the 85 minute mark!
Reds 2nd XV team
Front row: Michael Doga, Max Holt, Tom Gardner
Second row: Lewis McKie, Jacob Rosenfeld
Back row: Kyran Lee, Scott Aitchison, Ross Findlater
Half-backs: Struan McLean (captain), Thomas Hainey
Centres: Fraser Miller, Fred Adcock
Back three: Alex Hall, Lewis Smith, Ethan O’Hara
Sub:
Graeme McCallum (coach)