S2 Alpacas 4th at Ellon 7's

The Mackie boys were drawn in Pool A alongside hosts Ellon, Kirkcaldy and a harlequins team put together due to Moray pulling out late on Friday evening!

First in the group it was Kirkcaldy and the Mackie boys took quite well to playing 7's having had very little practice.

Tries from; Fraser Reid, Angus Bruce, Ross Gill, Adam Lock, Kieran Fulton x2 and Fraser Park x 2 gave them a 8-3 victory.

Up next was the hosts Ellon, the weather had turned at this point and the teams were pelted with hail for much of the match. Unfortunately the Alpacas were not able to produce the same kind of play as they had in the first game. With speedster Ross Gill going of injured it was going to be a tough game. Ellon came out of the hail victors with a narrow 2-1 win, although the Mackie boys knew it was one they could have won, Thomas Wilson got the sole Mackie try in the game.

The final group game was somewhat of a formality as Mackie knew they were through to the semi's already, and this showed in the style of play. Tries from Kieran Dyer, Kieran Fulton and Fraser Park x2 should have been enough to get them the win, but poor sluggish defence meant they also conceded 4 themselves resulting in a 4-4 draw.

Mackie drew Stirling County in the semi finals with hosts Ellon getting Grammar in the other tie.

The poor form from the last group game was carried over into the semi and Stirling took full advantage of this running in 7 tries in the first half. The second half was not much better as the boys went on to concede another 6, although some great defence and cover tackles did stop them from scoring more. Kieran Fulton managed to get a consolation try for Mackie, but Stirling were just too strong on the day.

This put the Alpacas into the 3rd /4th play off meaning they would again face Ellon who had lost out to Grammar in the other semi final.

A sloppy first half performance saw the half time score 4-1 to Ellon with Mackie still failing to pick up the flair they showed in their opening game. A stern talking to at half time from coach Mark Beadie in which the boys were told to man up and bring some aggression into the game and turn this round.

The second half was a different game and Mackie sprung into life and they took the game to Ellon. The full time whistle went with the scores 5-5, with the victory being given to Ellon as they had scored first. This was a disappointing end to what had been a fantastic turn around for the Alpacas, but they should what they could play some great 7’s in that half, if they had just done that from the start they could have taken 3rd place. Tries in the final match came from Kieran Dyer, Kieran Fulton and Angus Bruce x 3.

Mackie S2 Alpaca’s squad:
Ross Gill, Kieran Dyer, Adam Lock, Fraser Park, James McGregor, Thomas Wilson, Fraser Reid, Sandy Rose, Kieran Fulton, Angus Bruce