Spartan Invasion Crushed By Sils’ Second Half Riot

The plains of Copt Heath awaited another huge clash on Saturday, as Spartans marched onto Silhillian soil. In a tale of two halves, Sils emerged comfortable victors, showing no mercy with 38 unanswered points in the last 41 minutes to leapfrog Spartans into 2nd place in the M2W table.

Sils took the game straight to their visitors in the opening exchanges. Ben Crowe set the scoreboard ticking with a straightforward penalty after 3 minutes, and a Matt Lee score under the sticks after 9 minutes, converted by Crowe, took the score to 10-0. However, Spartans responded with their own penalty. As well as the strong pack Sils have become used to facing this season, their ranks included some dangerous backs, and they combined for a well-taken try after a quarter of the match. The scoreline was narrowed to 10-8.

Sils then seemed to lay down their weapons as Spartans pressed forward with another penalty, try and conversion to take a deserved lead of 18-10. The set piece was bringing mixed fortunes, with the scrum toiling as Spartans used their weight to effect, but the lineout delivering a constant platform for the backs. Manise and Trenchard even managed to pick off a few stray Spartan arrows, and this was the basis for a late rally in the final minute of the half. In the forwards’ phases that followed a steal deep in Spartan territory, Tom Manise crashed over for his first try of the season to crucially reduce the deficit before half time – 18-15.

The talk in the Sils camp at half time was about solidifying the defence and getting in behind the Spartan front line. Manise’s try was to prove the turning point. Little could Spartans have known it then, but for the half that remained they would dine in hell. An early sniff was squandered as they failed to score in the scoreboard corner, but from then on their phalanx was broken.

Sils turned the game on its head. The usual suspects Matt Lee and Jack Hobbs were the first to get in on the act. Lee got his second of the match wide on the left, and Hobbs on the right as Sils secured their own ball and Fred Howard drew the man for Hobbs to sneak in right in the corner. Crowe drilled his conversion from right on the touchline, bouncing off the crossbar and over to the crowd’s delight. It wasn’t long before Sils’ troops poured through the crumbling Spartan defence again, another superb breakaway leading to Pete Nicholls cutting back inside and looping a pass. As Sils queued up to score, it fell into the hands of a grateful Ben Trenchard to gallop in. Again, Crowe added the extras. 34-18.

As the battlefield became littered with bodies Mark Parry, James Hibbard and Harry Pick were withdrawn as cavalry arrived in the form of Tom Barnfield, Joe Pick and Dan Super.

Spartans continued to win the scrum battle, but were fast losing the war. Sils were taking no prisoners, and concerted pressure on the dazzled Spartans told when a handling error gifted Matt Lee his hat-trick with 10 minutes remaining. But of course it had to be Olly Beech who finished them off, with a textbook show-and-go and a dash in under the posts. Just as King Leonidas fell alongside his men, Captain Olleonidas impressively winded himself in the process of scoring, much to his teammates’ amusement.

Spartans fled the scene but were excellent opposition, and a far tougher encounter is expected when Sils travel to Sutton Coldfield in March. The campaign continues next weekend as Sils venture to sixth-placed Southam.