Sils crack whilst straining on the bog

The game commenced in sloppy conditions with Sils putting themselves under pressure by not being able to clear their lines in the opening phases. Sils were camped on their own line until a turnover relieved the pressure and Sils managed to find their feet, ending up with a penalty after 7 minutes which Ben Crowe duly converted. Minutes later Ronan Jones made it two from two with a great latching run to score under the posts. 10-0 with 11 minutes gone- plain sailing surely?
A series of potty penalties from Sils in defence gave Nuns the opportunity to get their unimaginative attacking move of repeated driving mauls in to gear. Their brute force was rewarded with a converted try. The yoyo swung back towards Sils as Peter Nicholls got them back on the front foot, breaking through to get caught just short of the line. The ball recycled for the onrushing Nuns full back to stray offside and purposely knock the ball on in what would have been a certain Sils try with the whole back line queuing up on the left flank. The result being 10 minutes in the bin and another Ben Crowe penalty, 13-7. Sils should have pressed on at this stage but their progress was thwarted when Lewis White saw yellow.
With both sides with 14 men in the run up to half time, Nuns used their forceful pack to good use and snatch a try after multiple pick and go’s. Sils keeping the lead with a missed conversion. Just get to half time, re-group and get going in the second half. How nice that would have been. Nuns made good use of an overlap to go marching down the right wing and score in the corner and take the lead into the second half, 17-13.
An early second half penalty converted by the Nuns flyhalf put them further ahead. Sils did then regroup and kept the ball for long passages of play however couldn’t find that cutting edge to cross the whitewash. Another Crowe penalty got Sils ever closer but mistakes creeped in and chances went begging ending the game in a disappointing loss, 20-16.
Having won the Copt Heath fixture 32-13, the Sils retained the bog seat but have stalled similar to their home nations in the six nations as they look to progress and climb the M2SW table in the run in of the season. A challenging home fixtures awaits this weekend as second place Malvern visit Copt Heath in the rearranged fixture from the cancelled snowy weekend earlier this month.