Sils U14 v Sutton - Warwickshire Cup

Old Silhilians u14 vs Sutton Coldfield

10th November- Warwickshire Cup

By Ian Hilton

Wow, where do I start with this one. Perhaps I’ll set the tone with “who'd be a referee?”. Squad in nice and early for team brief and lengthy warm up before Sils Captain for the day Tom Masterson won the toss. Sils kicking left to right got the game underway with a kick out left from Monty Adlington at 10. First penalty to Sils with the Sutton defence straying off side. Sutton worked hard and a break down the right wing saw them meters short of the Sils try line finally pushed into touch. Sils won the subsequent line out and some strong forward work from Tom Masterson, Will Conduit, Ollie McGinnity and an inform Josh Litwinko saw the Sutton defence too eager and off side. Sils kicked to touch but an aggressive Sutton saw them turn over the line out ball just short of their own try line. They moved the ball well but a real battle of the forwards saw Sutton pinged for off side again. Lots of advice from the Sutton captain but off side they were. A great passage of play from Sutton got the ball out wide to their number 11, or was he 12, might have been 13 either way “Reecey" went on a rampaging run down the left wing breaking tackles to score under the post. Good conversion made it 0-7 to the visitors. That fired up the travelling support and seemed to shock the Sils boys into life. Camped in the Sutton half from the restart Sutton conceded a lot of penalties and despite offering the referee more advice they were slowly pushed back. Harry Pemberton forcing his way over the line. Monty just short on the conversion, game on 5-7. Sutton restart was chased hard by their 11/12/13 but Sils took it well and moved it right. Ted Clarke and Josh Litwinko working well to make yards. Sutton going backwards at a rate of knots where Harry Pemberton slipped his defender to score again 10-7 to Sils. Monty slightly wide missed the conversion right. Half time whistle 10-7 Sils. Same sides squared up for the start of the second half but a number of quick substitutions saw Charlie Anthony at 9 replaced by Ross Hilton and the arrival of Hugo Murphy, Alex Rose, James Kennedy, Isaac Paris, Josh Bould and Ben Bryan. This was proving to be a very hard fought forward dominated match with any yards gained proving to be very hard indeed. Just as Sils looked to be making progress the Sutton 11/12/13 “Reecey" with lots of vocal support ran right through the Sils defence to score under the posts, duly converted to take Sutton in to a 10-14 lead. By this time a number of Sils players were starting to show the signs of a hard battle. Despite the onslaught Sils kept their heads and shape and started to push Sutton back. A ball out wide from Ross at 9 to Monty at 10 eventually hit Krish Maini in full flight. Looking like a cheetah chasing his prey he blasted down the left wing to beat 3 scrambling Sutton defenders to finish under the posts. Monty slotting an easy 2, 17-14 Sils. Sutton did not lack effort and worked hard from the restart but they were tired and starting to force the play. A feisty scrum in front of the Sils try line and in front of their vocal supporters was eventually cleared when Ross got the ball back to Monty despite the attention of the Sutton 9. The clearing kick turned Sutton around and Sils piled on the pressure. Impressive yards from Will Conduit, Tom Masterson backed up by Josh Bould, James K, Isaac and Ollie Mc saw Sutton in their own half being pulled left and right. Then came the coup de grace from a Sils scrum. The call went out for the ocularly challenged Mr Magoo to make an appearance. Just as the Sutton flanker lost sight Ross tapped Will to pick and go from the base, with Ross, Monty and the Sils backs shaped to go left the Sutton 11 had a tough choice, take Will or hold for the pass wide but risk Will going straight, tough choice but he made to tackle Will who off loaded perfectly to a hard charging Krish on the wing. Sutton couldn’t stop the inevitable and Krish scored out right. He decided to be greedy ☺ and kick a humdinger of a conversion from a tight angle, 24-14 Sils. That gave Sils breathing space and despite a very hard working Sutton forward line they couldn’t breach an equally impressive last 5 minute defensive effort from The Mighty Sils. Final whistle saw Sils take the bonus point win 24-14. Great effort from every single player today with bruises to prove it.