Silhillians had the worst possible start. After losing the first scrum against the head they then lost talismanic prop Mark O’Leary with concussion following an off the ball incident.

This didn’t seem to phase the Sils who soon got in to their stride and opened up the scoring with a well taken try by fullback Matt Lee. Steve Hawkins converted.

7 mins 0-7

Within 5 mins Laurentians had close the gap. An interception in midfield was run in unopposed. The conversion was missed.

12 mins 5-7

Sils instantly stretched their lead with a Steve Hawkins penalty.

14 mins 5-10

Two minutes later a great show of pace from fullback Matt Lee created space for left wing Alex Kirke to beat his man on the outside before feeding Ollie Beech who drew the covering defender 30m out. No.8 Tamanui Hill was on hand to take the scoring pass and run in Sils’ second try of the afternoon. Once again Steve Hawkins added the extra points.

16 mins 5-17

Laurentians then managed to stem the flow of Sils scores by denying the visitors decent possession. Their only reward however was a solitary penalty.

25 mins 8-17

The second half saw the home side start much the brighter and with 9 mins of the restart they had the lead courtesy of two well-taken tries. The first came from a series of patient pick and drives by the Laurentian forwards which was finished off smartly by the loose head prop. Again the conversion was missed.

43 mins 13-17

The second try came from a line out close to the Sils line. A well rehearsed training ground move saw the No.8 peel around the front of the line to score in the corner. This time the score was improved.

49 mins 20-17
With confidence high the home side were securing the majority of possession but seemed intent on kicking it away allowing the Sils back three of Dan Super, Matt Lee and Alex Kirke to run it back with interest.

The best try of the day came mid way through the second half. Laurentians were awarded a scrum on their own 10m line in centre field. The dominant Sils scrum took the ball against the head. Sils own captain Marvel, Peter Nicholls, collected the loose ball on the open side of the scrum and beat seven defenders as he galloped over from fully 35m out much to the delight of the travelling Sils faithful. Hawkins added the conversion.

58 mins 20-24

Laurentians threw everything they had at Sils as they pushed for the win. Wasteful kicking from the Laurentians no.10 frustrated the sizeable home support. Sils were reduced to 14 men for the last six minutes when flanker Steve Hall was sin binned but despite that Sils finished much the stronger. The final play of the game saw Nicholls cross for his second try only to be pulled back for a forward pass.

Full time 20-24

This week a 140 mile round trip takes Sils to within a drop kick of the Welsh border to take on 4th placed Whitchurch. A coach has been laid on for players and supporters. Anyone interested should contact the club via the website.