Stourbridge u14 vs Silhilians u14s
1st March 2020
By Ian Hilton
Pinch, punch first of the month saw Sils arrive at Stourbridge for their first game in what seemed like ages. Stourbridge's 4G pitch looking resplendent in the spring sunshine. Quick warm up saw Sils kicking off and a tense first 5 saw both teams playing with enthusiasm, Sils a little rusty but eventually Sils superior ball handling and some strong quick defence saw Sils camped in the Stourbridge half. Sils quick ball through the hands saw a rapid Brendan Colley crossing the line out wide, diving one handed to make it a deserved 0-5 to Sils. Wind in the face brought Montys kick at goal up short. From the restart Stourbridge with the wind behind kicked long and despite some slick handling Stourbridge managed to charge down the Sils clearance kick with a sharp follow up making it 5-5 with the Stourbridge conversion missing wide right. Sils from the restart running black after black when eventually big Tom Masterson crashed over the line to score a converted 7 points to make it 12-5 Sils. Sils running the restart back at Stourbridge with some great passing and rucking eventually creating the overlap for Ben Bryan to score, conversion just short to make it 5-17 to Sils. A little against the run of play and in the dying seconds of the first half Stourbridge got the ball wide to score a converted try making the half time score 12-17 Sils with it all to play for.
Stourbridge kicked the restart taken well by Sils. Stourbridge working really hard to contain Sils but discipline let them down Three consecutive penalties allowed Sils to march down the pitch with some great kicking to touch from Monty. Subsequent line out saw a lovely passage of play with Ross Hilton peeling off the front at 9 to find Will Conduit running a short nasty line straight in under the posts. 12-22 with Monty slotting a great conversion, 12-24 Sils. Stourbridge restart saw the next 15 mins pass without incident, however some fantastic defence from Sils saw Stourbridge heads start to drop. Great rucking from Isaac, Ciaran, George, Alex, Ted, Jaiden and Charlie saw big Will Conduit make a clean break from the half way line with George Hastings and Brendan Colley in hot pursuit. A certain try looked there for the taking but despite a great step inside Will got blind sided by a rapidly retreating Stourbridge 15. Despite Stourbridge defending like men possessed Sils kept their heads and it was Harry Pemberton who finally crashed over the line following a great piece of attacking rugby. 12-29 to Sils was soon 12-31 with a great conversion from Monty. Final whistle 12-31 to Sils. Great game against strong opposition.