Sutton Coldfield v Silhillians
Sutton Coldfield away was the second meeting between the sides the first at Sils in the Warwickshire Cup, in which Sils came away triumphant. From the start this was going to be a different encounter. Both sides were battling hard with forced errors from either side. A great take and run from Nathan unfortunately ended with him being tackled solidly and ending his match early with an ankle injury.
This really was a different encounter from the previous match with Sutton defending well and Sils just not able to create any clear chances. A penalty to Sils was kicked into touch deep inside the Sutton 22, from the line Sils drive was looking good only for Sutton to force the maul into touch for a Sutton lineout close to there try line, Sutton electing to kick clear from the line gave Sils the break they needed when Hanni collected well and went on a strong run which looked like a definite try but once again the Sutton defence held strong briefly but for the support of Woody who picked up out of the ruck to force the first try of the game. No Conversion.
From the restart Scott collected well feeding Jonathon who with a strong run was looking good, but Sutton’s defence held strong again forcing the knock on. Both sides defending well and it was going to take something different to break down either side. Sutton showed good hands along the backs with the winger looking like this could be there chance, that is until Hanni and Ethan together made sure it wasn’t going to be with a great joint tackle to put the Sutton wing into touch. From the line Sils kicked clear, Sutton attacked back running with the ball only being stopped by great tackles first by Max and then Joe M. Sutton still came away with ball in hand but Ethan gave them no chance to make anything of it ripping the ball from the Sutton center’s hands and breaking free to score under the posts. No Conversion!!
From the restart Max collected well and fed Jamie within the Sils 22, who went on a magnificent run evading tackles with speed jinxing and jumping around the Sutton defence to run the whole length of the pitch to score under the posts. Conversion Max
Half Time 0 – 17
With Sutton conceding two tries in quick succession you would have expected heads to possibly drop, but far from it. The restart had Sils on the attack again and if not for some good Sutton defence another try was on the cards, but Sutton held Sils up on the line. Sils scrum 5yds out was initially won but from the resulting ruck a Sutton Turn over and awarded a penalty just inside their own half. The penalty kicked to touch for a Sutton lineout, who broke well to score with an excellent conversion from a long way out.
A knock on from Sutton led to a Sils scrum which was won well and with the ball in Ethan’s hands and Jamie supporting they took the ball into contact, with the forwards lending a hand they gathered momentum driving the maul over the line Jamie now having ball in hand to go down over the line for his 2nd try, conversion Max from distance.
By now Sils were putting more pressure on Sutton, a kick clear from Ethan had Jamie chasing and forcing the turnover with the ball fed out along the line which Ross found himself in and with a sharp pass out to Hanni he proceeded to race down the line to score in the corner, No conversion.
Sutton did not stop and but for a fantastic piece of defending from Jamie tackling the Sutton player into touch another try might have been on the cards. Sils however were not finished and again there defence was strong with Ethan coming away with the ball feeding Hanni to score his 2nd and the final try of the game with no Conversion.
A great performance from both sides with a much-improved Sutton performance than the earlier encounter.
Final Score 7 - 34
RA