Sils send Old Covs down

Following the previous weeks away league victory against table topping Malvern, Sils travelled to Old Coventrians in the Warwickshire shield on Friday evening. The scene was set on a cold dry November evening under the lights for Sils to continue their good form to take more positive steps to get this season back on track.
Sils started the game positively, from the kick off attacking from deep and immediately making yards in the wide channels. Some good initial phases put Old Covs under pressure and Sils were awarded with a penalty for Tom Lee to get the scoreboard ticking, 3-0 to the sils. Minutes later after some comfortable build up play, Tom Lee sniped round the fringes to set brother Matt Lee off into space for the first try of the game. The conversion followed and Sils found themselves 10 nil up with 10 gone.
Fred Howard was an immediate influence after a long spell out with a shoulder injury, leading the forwards charge to put the Old Covs under even more pressure. More infringements led to more Sils penalties and for the super sils skip to take the lead to 13-0. Momentum briefly shifted to the Coventry side with penalty shot converted to make the score 13-3. However, Sils managed to shut this down immediately. With more strong carries from Nick Elliot and Ronan Jones the Sils pack drew the Old Covs in for the ball to be majestically slung wide by flyhalf Harry Pick, for the centre partnership do the rest with Matt Lee assisting James Arney for the try.
Pressure built again from the kick off however this time it was the forwards turn to get amongst the tries. A strong carry by Ed Atkins saw him barrel over for what is likely to be his only try of the season.
Plain sailing? Not yet. The Old Covs frustration seemingly meant they would take it out on young Lewis White, receiving some friendly banter from the home fans Lewis got embroiled in some minor fisty cuffs, leading to 10 minutes in the bin along with the a member of the Old Covs back row.
Just before half time Old Covs capitalised on some penalty kicks to the corner to score from a driving maul on the stroke of half time- 27-10. Keeping composure was the message at the break and Sils did just that, Ed Adkins fielding a clearance kick to start a simple but effective counter attacking move, through the hands of the half backs to James Arney to hustle his way down the right wing for his second of the night.
Ronan Jones’ day looked to be over however after some much needed physio loving he was back on his feet and amongst the score sheet just before the game began to get a little ugly. Sils wing Ross James was mistaken for Ronan and saw yellow for entering a ruck at the side, a lucky escape for Ross before even more un-pleasantries began.
Frustration mounted for Old Covs as they pressed into the Sils 22. It was a cold night but there were some definite hot heads and talking of heads, Nick Elliot was about to get his kicked in. An obvious Old Covs boot struck Nick whilst laying on the floor. Spotted by the ref, the Cov's back rower was red carded for the foulest of play.
This was not going to deter the Sils though and the champagne rugby poured late into the night for Dan Walker to continue his excellent 1st XV try scoring form and finally Ben Crowe sneaking in to score in the final minute after some textbook backs play.
A good result for the Sils as they move onto to defend what is now their most important trophy of last year- the infamous bog seat.