Burbage 36 vs 52 Sileby

It is unlikely that many match reports this season will begin with a tribute to one particular player. Much like last week Sileby Vikings found themselves short of numbers approaching 3 o’clock Saturday. With kick off mere hours away the coaching team would seem to have exhausted all potential options. Begging, borrowing and stealing had brought us to 14 men, but it seemed it would take something magical to fulfil the compliment at such short notice; something extraordinary; a player pulled out of thin air…. Low and behold our prayers were answered by our local magician Merlin (Mark Brown). Ever since Merlin joined the club last season he has been a stalwart of the 2nd XV and valued clubman. Our thanks Merlin for your commitment to the club.

To those not paying overt attention to detail the first hour and a quarter of the second pre-season fixture would have seemed very similar to that of the first. A rushed warm up – check; players out of position – check; player making debut – check; Sileby with limited numbers; check. The first twenty minutes yielded similar results to that of the week before. Sileby once again were slow to start, though instead of the number of infringements being the primary causes it was a lack of intensity across the board, especially in contact. Throughout his time as Coach Roy Robson has always commanded that the first contact should never be a shock – well today it may well have been for a number of Sileby players. The consequence was never in doubt, Sileby conceding two tries in the first 15 minutes.

Wake up calls don’t really come much stronger than going behind early. Fortunately (though in reality its actually unfortunate) Sileby have experience of this particular scenario. Veterans of the slow start to each half the Vikings have had to face coming from behind (matron) in the past. This trait is surely one that the coaching team will like to put to bed before the start of the league season; for slow starts can be the death knell for promoted teams. In times like this teams often turn to their historic strengths to halt the tide and turn a game around – so was the case yesterday. Sileby have nearly always dominated at scrum time. It was similar dominance in the last throws of the first half that would see Sileby score for the first time (and should be added almost completely against the run of play). With their pack marching backward excellent play by back rows Nick Martin and the returning Ash Rideout saw Sileby steal possession in the oppositions 22. After some trucking up Paddy O’Callaghan (who has been located after his sojourn to the wing last week) put captain Rich Rees in aches of space to score. Much of the credit must go to the front row of Walker, Wright and Robson and the engine room behind.
The saying ‘a game of two halves’ has become so ubiquitous with half time team talks that it’s pretty much lost all meaning. However since yesterday we played ‘4 quarters’ I feel that I can get away with it. So it was a half of two quarters. Much like last week as soon as Sileby had any meaningful possession and territory they looked like a completely different side. A series of quick hands and offloads from stand in centre James Lewis, back rowers Rideout and O’Callaghan and Prop Mark Walker (whom had found himself on the wing?) resulted in the former with a free run to the line. Further tries were scored in the period from Rideout and Lewis; the latter coming from a daring tap and go from debutant scrum half Will Clancy whom was on hand to receive a return pass from Rees and deliver the final ball to Lewis to stretch his legs. Rees would proudly state at half time that the quarter saw Sileby play some of its best rugby whilst he’s been a member. He played for Syston you know.
In the past (see above) the half time whistle has, on occasion, halted Sileby’s momentum. Today this was not the case. With the opposition perhaps tiring (despite their abundance of replacements to call upon) SiIleby exerted their dominance throughout the period. Ben Smith, Jamie Robson and David Walker in particular were making excellent gains in the midfield; and when the ball went out wide Jon Griffiths showed everyone why he picked up last season’s Most Improved Player award with strong and incisive incursions into opposition territory. With Silebly disrupting the opposition line out it seemed a matter of certainty that points would be on the horizon; and indeed the feast was bountiful. With the opposition looking to cut off the threat out wide the pack found great success down the short side, with Rideout and Griffiths touching down within the first 10 minutes. The quarter was closed by scrum half Clancy finding acres of space after a show and go to cap of a fine debut with a try.

The more said about the beginning of the final quarter the better, for the middle and end were somewhat turgid for the Vikings. With the call for greater line speed in the midfield off set plays Lewis picked the pocket of the opposition’s ball playing Inside Centre to complete his hat trick with an easy run in. From their SiIleby lost their shape, focus and composure. Given the freedom of being so far behind the opposition began to fling the ball wide with gusto, exposing the relative inexperience of some of the Vikings out of position players. More than once the Centre channels were breached with only some strong last ditch defending by Griffiths and full back JP Sawby preventing the line being crossed. That being said the opposition would breach the SiIleby defences 4 times in the final quarter, much to the frustrations of the Silebly players and coaches.
All in all it proved to be a bit of a sour ending to what had been for large portions an excellent performance from the SiIleby contingent. Upon reflection there were excellent passages of play throughout. However until the Vikings show the same levels of consistency throughout the whole 80 minutes brief brilliance may not be enough to make a mark in Midlands 3. That being said there were some excellent individual performances throughout. The captain’s Man of the Match went to debutant Will Carly, with particular reference to his sniping runs and control of the play. Mentions were made of big Jon Griffiths, Jamie Robson and James Lewis also. The final score Burbage 32 Sileby 52.

To next week, Leicester Forrest in the last run out before Buxton. This will be the last chance for players to make a claim for a starting shirt for the campaign opener. It is also a chance to get one over a team whom have always been at a higher level than the Green and Blacks. Training as always is on a Tuesday and Thursday at Platts Lane starting at 7:00pm.
Tries:
Lewis x 3
Rideout x 2
Rees
Griffiths
Clancy

Conversions:
Clancy x 6