The Stratford backs reacted quickly and moved the ball swiftly and confidently through the hands out to winger Callum Cook who scored five metres in from the right-hand touchline. The conversion was wide but with just three minutes gone Stratford were 5-0 up.

Play continued in a scrappy fashion, with the ball frequently failing to go to hand. Stratford’s forwards dominated play with a series of turnovers at the lineout and the scrum, but they failed to capitalise.

Sils worked hard in the loose and kept themselves in the game with good rucking and counter-rucking. Eventually Sils managed to win a penalty near the Stratford 22 which they took quickly and some loose tackling allowed them to break through and score directly under the posts and take a 7-5 lead.

The scrappy game continued, with a fair bit of the action taking place on the touchline between the two sets of supporters, with Stratford’s Shakespearean heritage and eloquence winning through.

On the pitch Silhillians managed to extend their lead to 10-5 through a well taken penalty.

Close to the end of the first half Stratford hooker Tom Hall once again stole the ball against the head and put Stratford on the offensive.

Winger Jay Kennedy made a great break down the left and chipped through. Outpacing the Sils defence, he managed to get downward pressure on the ball to level the score at 10-10.

Scott Harman’s conversion fell short and the half finished with the score level - a disappointing position considering the amount of possession Stratford had enjoyed and the advantage of the wind.

Not long after the restart Sils were awarded a penalty just inside the Stratford half. They took this quickly and Stratford were adjudged to not be back ten metres, allowing Sils another penalty ten metres closer to the Stratford line.

Rather cynically, a Stratford player kicked the ball away and the Sils were rewarded with yet another ten metres. This put them into kicking range and they were able to add another three points to their tally and go 13-10 up.

Stratford seemed to be lacking inspiration and the scrappy play continued. There were occasional flashes of brilliance but no cohesive play.

Silhillians were the first side to break the spell and worked the ball through the phases closer and closer to the Stratford line. The usually rock solid defence was eventually breached and Sils scored a try which was converted to put them 20-10 up.

This seemed to spur Stratford on and a series of good attacks and penetrating runs earned a penalty in front of the posts from which Harman made no mistake to put Stratford back in bonus point range at 20-13.

A few minutes later Stratford returned the favour and gave Silhillians a chance to open the ten-point gap again, but the kick was just wide.

Stratford were now playing up a gear and kept attacking well. At one point a certain try was illegally denied but neither a penalty try nor a yellow card resulted.

The pressure did tell eventually as Callum Cook, rather the worse for wear, still managed to touch down in the corner for his second try of the match.

With the clock red, No 10 Harman had a difficult conversion from out wide to level the score but was unsuccessful.

Stratford were left to ponder how they managed to let, what really should have been a win, get away from them.