Hinckley

This Sunday we travelled up the M69 to play Hinckley RFC.
We were all well aware of this team’s track record and were under no illusions that the entire travelling squad needed to turn up for this fixture, and “turn up” they certainly did. Hinckley had some huge lads playing for them, they looked physical and clearly well drilled in their pre match warm ups.

The game kicked off and straight away Sils showed their intent with some big hits going in and strong rucking at the breakdown. Hinckley matching Sils with great physicality which was a joy to watch from the sideline.
After being camped in Hinckley’s half for the first ten minutes, we eventually got our first score. Max putting in a lovely kick over the top saw us win the ball with some great counter rucking, which led to our backs linking well and finally saw Jamie get the ball to go on a strong run and go over for his first of the game. Elliot converting well from a tight angle.
Hinckley instantly replied, stringing together some lovely phases to level the scores.
This was clearly going to be a tight, fought game!
Sils kicked to restart and the ball was knocked on by Hinckley.
The resulting scrum was well won by Sils who were punching well above their weight against a huge Hinckley pack. Jacob finally getting the ball to go on a lovely, weaving run who eventually offloaded to Ethan who ran a supporting line to go over for our second. Elliot again converting well.
Max continued to kick and probe and seemed to be enjoying launching Sils attacks from all over the park. We then saw Hinckley regain momentum and once again looked dangerous with their big lads carrying well.
This led to a very brave tackle by Noah, felling one of their biggest players which, unfortunately, resulted in him taking a bad knock to the head. The ref decided to halt proceedings and move to another pitch so that Noah could receive medical attention.

Half time : Hinckley 7 Sils 14

The second half began and Hinckley seemed to be fired up. They were physical and were playing clever rugby, utilising all of their big, fast lads to launch wave after wave of attacks.
Harrison F and Tom were simply outstanding with their defending. Tackling players twice their size and undoubtedly preventing a few Hinckley tries.
Sils continued to match Hinckley on all fronts but eventually conceded a try after a couple of missed tackles saw the home team go over to level the scores.
Sils then regained the swing of the pendulum and with an exquisite chip over the top by Elliot, saw Jamie latch onto the bouncing ball to go on a lovely, charging run and score his second of the game. Elliot again adding the additional two points.
Some more great rugby by both teams kept us all entertained.
A strong carry from Ethan saw him offload to Jamie who once again went on a flying run down his wing to score his third of the game. Elliott’s conversion successful again.
Hinckley now began to apply pressure and Sils spent the next 10 mins displaying some fantastic defending. The majority of this was on our try line with Hinckley constantly utilising their big lads with pick and goes, this pressure eventually leading to their third try which was duly converted.
This was now a tense situation, with only 5 minutes to go Hinckley could score to level or Sils could score to secure victory.
Well, it did go our way. A lovely clearance kick from Ethan saw Sils in Hinckley’s half. Sils winning the line out saw Jacob offloading to Ethan to score his second of the game. Elliot making it 100% success rate and converted well.

This was a fantastic game, fairly contested by two very strong teams. The Hinckley lads coming over to shake hands with our lads (even after the traditional tunnel) was great sportsmanship and lovely to witness.
Credit to every single player from both sides today. It was a hard fought victory and every Sils player played as a team, with great courage and commitment and should be very proud of themselves!

Also, just wanted to say a big thank you to Chris and the Hinckley medic who were both outstanding with their first aid and stayed with Noah for 3 hours until the ambulance arrived to take him to hospital. Thankfully, he was eventually given the all clear and we were all very relieved. We wish him well with his recovery.

Final score: Hinckley 21. Sils 35.

GW