Earls Done As Try January Kicks Off

New Year, same Sils. Against tough opposition, Sils reversed the bitterly disappointing 24-10 loss back in September to avenge one of only two defeats so far this season. The same XV that started at Berkswell & Balsall took the field, with a strong bench of Sefa Aukuso, Tom Barnfield and Matt Lee.

Sils began defending the clubhouse and continued their habit of starting well at home. Crowe recovered from an early high tackle to kick a penalty to the corner, and Earlsdon had chances to clear their lines but from one such kick, Harry Pick made the most of broken play to find a gap in the onrushing defence before slotting in Jack Hobbs, on hand for the umpteenth time this season to do the rest. With only 5 minutes gone Sils had substituted mince pies for tries.

But countless times before Sils have taken the early initiative and gone on to throw games away, and old M1W rivals Earlsdon would cause them plenty of problems. Even after losing their outside centre for 10 minutes for a second high tackle (in a match littered with them for some reason), Sils’ second try was somewhat fortunate. Tom Lee made a nuisance of himself at the base of an Earlsdon scrum in the Sils 22 and he, Tim Trace and Olly Beech all had a go at hacking it up the other end for Beech to eventually dive on. Lee converted, and knocked over a penalty a few minutes later to give Sils breathing space at 15-0.

Sils didn’t see much of the Earlsdon half for the remainder of the first period, as discipline dipped and territory and possession were surrendered. Nick Elliott was hauled off before he was sent off, with Sefa Aukuso coming on in his place. In fact, Sils spent the final 15 minutes of the half pegged back in the car park corner, as Earlsdon tried to find a way onto the scoresheet and back into the game. Several attacking lineouts and driving mauls couldn’t breach the Sils barricade, even after Fred Howard was lost to the sin bin. Eventually, Earlsdon blew their last chance with a handling error, and the half-time whistle was met with cheers of relief from the Solihull faithful.

Matt Lee replaced Stu Clarke for the second half, and Nick Elliott re-entered the fray in place of James Hibbard. Sils knew that although they had shut their visitors out so far, there was work to do to put the game beyond reach. A catch-and-drive of their own in the car park corner led to phases in-field, but flankers Tim Trace and Ben Trenchard had spotted an opening on the short side. It was a bold move right in front of Coach Taylor, but it paid off. Tom Lee flung it out to Trace and as Earlsdon scurried out from the ruck, he slung it to Trenchard to finish in the corner. The difficult conversion was missed but at 20-0, it was beginning to look as though the result was heading the home side’s way.

Jack Hobbs grabbed another, plucking a looped pass out of mid-air and darting through a hole from close in to touch down, but only after Earlsdon were rewarded for their efforts on 55 minutes up in the scoreboard corner. Credit where credit is due, the away side enjoyed a vast amount of possession throughout the match, and controlled the game for a large proportion of the second half. On 67 minutes their hooker hit a good line off 10 and found a gap, running all the way in for their second score. It was a disappointing one to concede having worked on defence in the week, but Hobbs’ try had given Sils just enough wiggle room. Tom Lee slotted a penalty to take the gap to 18 points and surely out of reach and, in the penultimate play, Nick Elliott’s break set up a delighted Tom Barnfield – one of the only remaining squad members not to score this season. As well as helping him dodge some unthinkable punishment at the end of season dinner, it proved his and Trenchard’s mid-season Newquay training camp a resounding success. It must have been all those runs on the beach…

Now for the big one. An important week of preparations commence as Sils go on a crusade to Spartans next Saturday, with the Sutton Coldfield side looking to exact revenge of their own in the Intermediate Cup Midlands Semi-Final.