Claverdon at home

Our 1st report of the season saw Sills entertain an enthusiastic Claverdon side. From the Sills kick off a succession of knock On’s from both sides ending in a penalty to Claverdon that they took quickly to make a promising break only to be stopped by an excellent chase down and tackle from Jamie. Again knock On’s and scrums going both ways were playing a big part of the game and not surprisingly leading to the 1st score of the game. A Claverdon knock on into the hands of Sam saw him break free at pace to put down under the post so we thought, only not to ground the ball over line, but fortunately Monty was backing up to ensure the job was completed properly, with Luke taking advantage with the conversion. The re-start and yes more knock on’s eventually leading to a fine break by Ethan only to be stopped in the Claverdon 22 leading to a Claverdon penalty allowing them to kick clear only for Jamie with good support from Mark to put pressure back on to Claverdon. Unfortunately a reset Sills scrum was won by Claverdon who broke free to score in the corner for their 1st score of the match, not converted. The restart had Sills chasing down and turning over the Claverdon pack feeding the ball to Ethan who broke free to score under the posts, converted by Luke for his 2nd.
​​​End of 1st Third 14 – 5
The start of the 2nd period had Claverdon chasing down and winning back the ball from there kick off, breaking clear to be stopped by a fine tackle from Jacob. From the ruck Sills regained possession and had Jacob kicking clear and chased by Ben G and Jamie who in turn earned a penalty which was kicked to touch for an uncontested lineout. Sills didn’t make anything of the lineout advantage which ended in a scrum to Sills only to be won for not the 1st time in the game by Claverdon. The kick clear from Claverdon however landed straight into Max’s hands who broke down the blind side to score in the corner. The conversion was well taken by Elliot from a long way out. From the restart a succession of penalties to Claverdon had the last being kicked to touch which Claverdon made good use of to break down the line with players over only to lose the ball to Sills who in turn knocked on again for a Claverdon Scrum which they won and a break through the Sills defence to score under the posts, converted. After the restart a break by Max ended with Claverdon winning the ball back to make their own break which was temporarily halted by Jamie only for Claverdon to regain possession and score in the corner, no conversion.
​​​End of 2nd Third 21 – 17

The final 3rd and Sills 1st scrum was won convincingly. A couple of penalties to both teams and another Sills scrum won led to Ethan taking hold of the ball and with a dummy pass breaking free to score in the corner for his 2nd try of the match, no conversion. By now Sills scrums were looking a lot better and their Rucking was looking at lot more convincing, however a couple of penalties were giving Claverdon a lot of possession. Sills continued to work hard at the rucks leading to Ethan ripping the ball from the Claverdon Centre and going over for his 3rd and final try of the game which Elliot convincingly converted.
Claverdon early on and in the 2nd period looked a very tough proposition and played with some great fluency only for their handling letting them down when it mattered most. Overall Sills work rate and great team spirit came through to end up victorious.

​​​Final Score Silhillians 33 – 17 Claverdon

RA