Sils U14 V Droitwich

Silhilians u14 vs Droitwich
8th December 2019

By Ian Hilton

This match proved to be a tale of two halves. Very windy conditions greeted both teams as they took to the pitch some 50 mins before kick off for warm up / drill practice. Monty Adlington got the game underway for Sils playing left to right. Sils steal the ball back from the kick off and two quick penalties against Droitwich allowed Sils to kick for touch. Couple of rolling mauls saw Sils yards short. A third penalty for deliberately taking down the maul saw Tom Masterson taking the initiative and crashing through a pile of bodies for a 5-0 lead, converted by Monty for 7-0. Not 5 minutes later a move from Ross Hilton at 9 saw the ball through hands of Monty, Ben Leach, Tom Masterson, George Hastings finally to Brendan Colley who ran in the second for 12-0. Missed conversion from a difficult angle in the swirling wind. Sils started to take control with the forwards working well. Their hard work was rewarded when Ross Hilton at 9 hit big Tom Masterson who in turn off loaded perfectly to a hard running Will Conduit to make it 17-0 Sils. Monty nailing the conversion for 19-0 lead. Despite the score Droitwich stuck at it screamed on by their vocal support but it was all Sils. Another period of Sils pressure saw the ball go right from a scrappy ruck, across the pitch eventually finding Ollie McGinnity who with two beautiful hand offs scored to make it 24-0 to Sils. Missed conversion to the right. Droitwich restart taken comfortably by Sils but a whole host of penalties against Sils kept Droitwich in the Sils half. Big Ollie McGinnity finally got those big hands (or should I say hand!) on the ball running over half the length of the pitch to touch down right under the posts. A grateful Monty kicking the 2 for a 31-0 half time lead.
Number of player changes by Sils at half time saw Ollie Wilkins taking over the 9 shirt. Sils playing right to left. Second half started well but couple of Sils handling errors crept in but eventually Sils scrum in the right corner saw a great pick and go by the fleet footed Ollie Wilkins who fooled everyone to touch down in the right corner 36-0 Sils. Conversion from way right into a strong wind proved too much. Droitwich restart knocked on by Sils saw Droitwich camped in the Sils half. With their screaming support and a lot of uncharacteristic errors from Sils the unthinkable happened and Droitwich scored. Missed conversion made it 36-5 Sils. More and more handling errors from Sils, quick tap and go penalties from Droitwich saw Sils marched back 10 for not falling back. In at the side, knock on (I could go on!). Eventually Sils got some control back and after a lot of hard work Tom Masterson crossed again for his second and Sils seventh try to make it 41-5. Conversion short kept that score for sometime. Last 10 minutes and Sils again masters of their own downfall conceding penalty after penalty. Droitwich with fire in their bellies kept coming and a combination of missed tackles and poor defence saw a jubilant Droitwich score again. Conversion missed for a final score of 41-10 to Sils (even 10 points each in the second half).