A Strong Saxons Scratch Team Lay Down Nun's

The day was poised to be a great day of rugby, first off, a young Sils Saxons side followed by the Calcutta Cup. With the sun shining in Nuneaton, the Saxons took to the field for the first time since their bitter semi-final defeat to Berkswell & Balsall.

With Nuneaton receiving the kick off, pressure was immediately placed on the Sils, with direct running and aggressive forward play, the game started looking like it would be a long day for the Saxons side. Within five minutes, Sils had conceded a try directly under the posts, which was subsequently converted.

After this set back, the Solihull side stepped up their game and piled the pressure onto Nuneaton with solid forward play, particularly from the Bullock brothers (Joe & Ollie) and then creative work in the backs by Ben & Sam Lowe which created the first try for the Saxons, right underneath the posts. Sam then followed up on his older brothers try by converting, to level the scores at 7-7, after just 7 minutes of the game kicking off.

Sils continued this pressure, with some fantastic rugby being played, the result at this stage was only going one way, both backs and forwards were really clicking and the tries began to pour in; Ben Lowe with a carving run from the halfway line, converted. Joe Bullock then scored two, with powerful runs from the centre of the pitch, both converted. Some great running from the younger Lowe brother, Sam, brought the score to 33-7 and then the Northern Powerhouse, Luke Ettenfield-Nann scored a try reminiscent of his Rugby League days, again converted.

Nuneaton Old Eds began putting the pressure back on and the Sils were pinned underneath their posts for what felt like an age, but with fantastic counter rucking by Captain Garrick Rock, the Saxons won the ball back. The ball was then cleared by the Sils Fly Half and chased by Winger Ollie Powell, who caught the ball on his own 10 metre line and put on the afterburners to beat the Nuneaton full back for pace and score under the posts, this was the final play of the half, finishing at 47-7.

The second half started strongly again for Sils, with a flurry of tries from the backs. Dan Walker starting the scoring with a scintillating run from his own 22 metre line, Nuneaton didn’t have any chance in catching him. Sam Lowe then caught a ricocheted grubber and finished it off in style, stepping the rather large Old Eds number 8. The forwards then decided to get in on the scoring with Luke Ettenfield-Nann keeping up with some great work from Scrum Half Andy “Von” Cunningham and Full Back Dom Marks, to score and make the score 62-7 with sixty minutes played.

At this point, Nuneaton stepped up a gear and the Saxons began to lose concentration and discipline, this resulted in a sin bin for Jim Roper and a number of penalties being given against Sils. Nuneaton capitalised on the advantage and scored two, both of which were converted. This visibly frustrated Sils who had defended well since the fifth minute of the game.

After this sustained pressure and frustration for Sils, they took the game back to Nuneaton and finished the game off, ever present Paul “Pabs” Hollier ran the length of the pitch, before being tackled just shy of the try line and offloading to Ben Lowe, allowing him to complete his hattrick. This was quickly followed by Luke Ettenfield-Nann crashing over the line for his hat-trick.

By Ollie Powell

Match finished 24-71

MOTM Ben Lowe

Notable Mentions: Bullock Brothers