Leek 18 vs 25 Silhillians

Silhillians continued their winning streak of 10 games in a row to go top of Midlands 2 West (North) with a difficult trip to north Staffordshire where the Leek side had gone undefeated at home for the last 12 matches.
The Leek outfit quickly showed why they are a difficult prospect at home, starting with intensity, some fierce rucking and good tactical kicking put the visitors on the back foot forcing two early penalties in front of the Sils posts; Leek duly obliged to go 6-0 ahead after 9 minutes.
Midway through the first half Sils suffered an injury to their starting Loose Head Prop Matt Bacon who was replaced by Mark Parry who shored up a dominant Silhillians scrummage. The hosts continued to press and were eventually rewarded after the half hour mark by a Try out wide on the left wing which went unconverted.
Although 11-0 down the Sils side continued with the self confidence they have built this season responding with two quick Trys from fast attacking running and support play; the first from the mercurial Matt Lee bursting through from full back to go over the whitewash, the second from Captain Pete Nichols. Although still down 11-10 at half time the momentum was clearly with Sils.
With that momentum Sils pressed early in the second half and forced a penalty in front of the Leek posts, Harry Law taking the opportunity to put his side ahead slotting between the posts, 11-13. Sils continued to press and had much of the territorial advantage, the pressure eventually resulting after the 60 minute mark, in a Try from Denis Daly who burst through the Leek cover defence out wide on the right wing, Harry Law converted the extras 11-20.
Leek however, were not finished and fought their way back into the game with a couple of searing runs from which their Scrum Half sniped a try picking his way through the Sils scrambling defence, their Fly Half converted to make it 18-20 with 15 minutes remaining. Leek continued to test the Sils cover defence, culminating in a magnificent tackle from your man Daly to stop a certain Leek try. This defensive effort turned the tide and the last 10 minutes saw Sils camped on the Leek 5 meter line with a series of scrums from which Sils Number 8, Cameron Law forced his way over to score Sils fourth Try earning them a bonus point as well as the well earned victory.
Sils continue next week with an away trip to the Billesley Common outfit, Moseley Oak (K.O. 2:15pm), who narrowly beat them earlier in the season. The Sils Director of Rugby Andrew Clutterbuck commented, ‘We have been playing some attractive Rugby this season and have been entertaining to watch for our supporters. It is great to see our confidence and belief in what we are doing. There is still a long way to the end of the season and some great competitive fixtures such as Moseley Oak on Saturday, the buzz and excitement of that prospect is after all, why we play the game’.