Butts Out

Silhillians v Barkers Butts

Warwickshire Cup Quarter Final

Sils this week entertained Barkers Butts in the rearranged Quarter Finals fixture of the Warwickshire Cup. With the previous fixture having been cancelled due to the weather. At one stage on Sunday it looked like we could have had another cancellation on our hands but due to some good forward thinking by the coaches, by the time the later kick off came round, the pitches were good to go.

Sils got of to a good start with the forwards controlling the scrums and the rucks. A knock on from Sils gave Barkers the put in, Sils scrum held firm but came away with nothing until the eventual breakdown with Sils turning over, Max feeding out to Elliot who in turn showed good skill to feed Oscar charging through the middle to score Sils first try under the posts easily converted. It didn’t take long before Sils had a penalty kicked to touch in side the Barkers 22. The line out well taken by Sils and the driving maul was formed, with Harri having hold of the ball and Max eager to take it off him, Harri was having none of it and deservedly dropped down over the line for a well worked try. Sils however were giving away a few penalties, but Barkers failed to make them pay and ended up giving possession back to Sils by conceding a penalty of there own which Sils kicked to touch and from the line, Sils got the drive on again, this time coming out and along the backs to eventually reach Hanni who wasn’t going to be stopped for Sils 3rd try converted Elliot. A period of penalties and knock on’s from both sides ended when Barkers kicked clear. With Ethan collecting and kicking back up field and the chase was on Jacob getting there first picking up and off loading to Ethan who broke free to score his first try of the match. The restart from Barkers did not help there cause much going straight into touch, Sils opting for the scrum back in the middle. From the scrum the ball was fed out eventually kicked clear along the line, (with some excellent footwork from the touch judge trying to keep up with play, really needs to get his boots back..!!). Sils were playing some good Rugby now Harrisons hard work and great tackling paid off when he was involved with Hanni and Jacob who between them broke through the Barkers defence to eventually feed Ethan for his 2nd try, converted Elliot. Another penalty against Sils gave Barker sthe chance to clear there lines but the attempted kick to touch ended in Sils hands and once again Ethan found himself clear after a lovely dummy pass opened up a gap for him to penetrate and score his 3rd try and another conversion for Elliot.

Half Time

38 – 0

From the start Sils came out the same as they finished with Ethan scoring in the corner. Barkers must have wondered what had hit them. The restart had Sils gathering and kicking back up into Barkers territory, Barkers temporarily had the ball back when a knock ended up in Sils possession and with advantage being played Sils and Ethan scored again for his 5th try. More good mauling from the forwards saw the ball in Jacobs hands who broke to only end up being penalised for a forward pass the resulting scrum was held firm by Sils but ending up in Barkers hands who showed some good skill and hard work to get the eventual break through to score in the corner. Not converted. A sustained period of penalties line outs and a couple of scrums going both ways eventually led to a kick clear from Barkers who won the chase with another kick along the ground to score there 2nd try unconverted. Almost immediately from the restart Barkers collected and again kicking clear only for this time to end up straight in the hands of Ethan who managed to evade all the Barkers defence to score his 6th try converted Elliot. With Barkers still continuing to battle hard, Scott gathered a loose ball well inside the Barkers 22 feeding Oscar who went over to score his2nd try which was awarded as a penalty try due to dangerous play from a Barkers player while trying to stop try. As the game neared the end a few more penalties and knock on’s from both sides were conceded and it had to be Ethan who ended the game with his 7th and final try.

An excellent performance from Sils who will await to see who there opponents will be in the semi final, but although the score margin was big Barkers at times played some good rugby and were deserved of there two tries. A great game played in the correct spirit of the game.

Final Score

67 - 10