Hereford vs Silhilians u14s
15th December 2019
By Ian Hilton
“Tis the season to be jolly". The big yellow Silhilians Xmas tour coach was diverted due to flooding so we arrived a little later than expected to be greeted by a lot of confident expectant faces keen to put our unbeaten record to the test. Sils going through their warm up under the glare of a few 1000 yard stares whilst one of the Hereford coaches prowled in front of them reminding them who they are and what they were going to do and show the bunch of travelling Silhilians (words changed so as to not offend the children). That team talk kind of set the tone and once again Hereford got into a big huddle grinning and singing. Sils looked confident in the warm up having heard and seen it all before. Down on numbers, with only 2 subs Arjen shook a big beefy Hereford hand and they kicked the game into life playing left to right. A very competitive 5 minutes with both sides tackling big and hard. Very much a stalemate when some excellent Sils forward play saw quick ball from Ross at 9 to Monty to Ben Bryan who stepped his man to go over for a 0-5 Sils lead soon 7 with a lovely Monty Adlington conversion. Hereford shouting at themselves for conceding kicked the game back into life when Harry Pemberton found his dare I say it footballing boots proceeding to kick the ball through a befuddled rapidly retreating Hereford defence to eventually score wide right. Tough conversion just missed short by Monty. 12-0 to Sils. Ross at 9 had shouted himself horse marshalling the big Sils forward pack, Josh Litwinko at his antagonistic best, Tom Masterson, Will Conduit, Ted Clarke, George Marriott, Harry “Pele" Pemberton and Ben Bryan all tackling like men possessed. Couple of penalties against Sils for holding on saw some excellent Hereford kicking march them right into Sils territory and despite some brilliant defence Hereford scored an unconverted try to make it 12-5. That seemed to please the home support. Heading towards half time the game was getting “competitive" is probably the best way to describe it. Referee Robin blew and the teams got into their respective huddles, Sils calm and silent listening intently to Scott whilst Hereford bristled with intent still going to show us who and what they were all about.
Second half saw Charlie Anthony replace Ross at 9 and Monty kicking the restart. Hereford seemed to approach the restart with a renewed energy which whilst great to see eventually spilled over in a very late tackle on the Sils 10, Monty. So late in fact the ball had gone through two pairs of Sils hands before he was hit. Sils proceeded to score whilst the melee ensued and without going into too much detail Hereford lost a player for head butting although the Hereford Carl Froch at 12 was lucky to stay on the pitch. Coaches pulled the teams apart and to be fair the Hereford coaches did lay down the law and everyone kissed and made up. Following the restart, which saw the Sils try scratched, the boys won the subsequent scrum and proceeded to smash Hereford backwards, Ciaran Sullivan, Alex Rose and Jaiden Drinkwater working hard, Ben Bryan having a fantastic game at 12 twisting and wrestling for yard after yard. A brilliant move denying Will Conduit a try with an adjudged forward pass. That was just a slight hiccup in a humdinger of a second half. The big beefy Hereford forwards so full of power and aggression were blowing, swinging at thin air as the mighty Sils try machine started to rumble. Harry Pemberton struck first with a great wrecking ball of a move to score, Monty in his kicking boots took the two. 19-05 Sils. Ben Bryan again from the restart making yards for fun ultimately finding a big angry Tom Masterson on a short line boom try to Sils converted by Monty 26-5. The faces of the Hereford defence as Tom stood up from the try line was one of shock and awe. The Hereford rough em up tactics hadn’t worked, out of puff and out of ideas Sils playing for each other started to really turn on the style. Hereford still angry but just unable to keep up the pressure, holding line when everyone knows they should have formed square against the marauding Sils cavalry. Sils ball in hand were unstoppable and after a
beautiful move George Hasting crossed again for a 31-5 score line. Missed conversion. Hereford kicked the restart but Sils ran and kicked it straight back again. A petulant Hereford kick put the ball out like a corner man throwing in the towel. Final whistle 31-5 to the Mighty Silhilians! Hereford were great opposition but ultimately Sils put them to the sword, fantastic effort from the boys. Here’s to a very merry Christmas!