Sat 29 Nov 2025
Silhillians 41 - 14 Stratford
This week Stratford travelled up the M4 and M42 to Silhillians (Sills) in a day that had brightened up following a downpour in the morning. Sitting close together in the league table, both teams would have considered it a must win.
The first 10 minutes of play saw both teams testing their opposition, occasionally breaking a tackle with knock-ons thwarting them. Most of the position however was in the Stratford half with a few of the promising attacks breaking down after a kick through, turnover or knock-on. David Pritchard rolled back the years, stepping in for regular centre Dan Whitby and busted through in the 22 eventually being stopped at halfway.
Sadly, Sills got and the scoreboard first, following their lineout on the right touchline, they spread it wide and used some footwork and a handoff to get past Stratford right-winger Armin Tofighi (a tough start on his starting debut.) This forced full-back Andy Oliver to step in and allowed the offload to the spare man who scored relatively near the posts, despite only squeezing inside the corner post at the try line. With the conversion they led 7-0.
Before they knew it Stratford were two down, a high tackle penalty not long after the restart gave Sills a perfect launching platform inside the Stratford 22. Drawing in the defenders and stretching Stratford’s left side, a ball out the back allowed manipulation of the advancing defence and saw Sills score in the right corner. Converted as well, it was now 14-0 though they weren’t blowing Stratford apart, it was a consequence of a lack of consistency in the Stratford backs.
With the ball back in hand, a scrum move saw outside centre Nathan Geekie progress, followed by a big carry from returning lock Zak Amond. Later awarded a penalty, Stratford kicked to the corner and although the lineout was overthrown, it landed in the hands of Amond who drove in towards the try line and the posts. Multiple forward phases, an attempt over the line that was held up and a long pass out to the left found Stratford in the left corner and at a ruck where hooker Ben Cole picked and went, crashing over to score. Gwilym Davis, with the kicking duties in Whitby’s absence, added the extra 2 to bring the score back to 14-7.
With about 25 minutes on the clock, Sills stretched their lead to 21-7, having found themselves close to the Stratford try line they spread the ball right from a ruck and were able to slip between Stratford pair Davis and Geekie with neither quite doing enough to stop the onrushing attacker.
Stratford hit back before half-time after a penalty just inside the half, led to a lineout just inside the Sills 22. Stratford gathered the ball cleanly and found Pritchard cutting an angle towards the tail of the lineout and following this Stratford were awarded a penalty. Opting to tap and go, six phases later fly half Davis switched to the blindside drawing a couple of defenders wide before stepping inside one and going around the other to score. He converted his own try and the scoreboard read 21-14 at halftime.
With the second half underway, Pritchard was set away from a Stratford scrum move handing off two men before being stopped 30m later in the Sills half. With substitutes Jake Lowe and James Walton introduced at half-time, Lowe was clearly aiming to get the ball clear of the rucks as quickly as possible to try and get Stratford on the front foot.
Stratford were looking good, with Oliver intercepting a Sills attack and getting to their 22 before his attempted offload trickled forward as he was spun by the covering defender. Frustratingly, this re-aggravated his ankle after possibly returning to the team a week too early and eventually led to him being withdrawn causing another reshuffle in the backs. Having sustained their attack, Stratford broke again with first Pritchard, then prop Tom Stanley, both making big yardage having brushed off would-be tacklers.
Despite this period of sustained pressure from Stratford, Sills, breaking out from their own 22, got to Stratford’s near the left touchline and then made the most of numbers to go in on the far-right corner. 15 minutes later and they did a similar thing this time from right to left having got into the Stratford half thanks to a penalty. They now lead 31-14 and Stratford had a lot to do if they wanted to take anything from the game.
Now in possession, Stratford from a centre field ruck, between their 10 and 22 spread the ball to the left, with Geekie putting substitute Dom Wan through a gap before he drew his man and offloaded to flanker Jamie James on the halfway with just two covering men to beat. He made it to the 22 but with the ball held only in his inside hand a desperate dive from the Sills fly half knocked the ball loose, a knock on that was gathered by the last defender, opportunity missed.
Having already kicked a penalty, Sills went further ahead when Stratford cleared from in their 22 and the kick went straight to Sills, still in the Stratford half. Spreading the ball right, they were only stopped from going in on that side by the scrambling defence of Davies and Tofighi, the latter now taking no prisoners after being bumped off early in the first half. With Stratford stretched, prop Stanley found himself on the right side facing a two on one which Sills executed to score.
Although they had then gone on to lose prop Michael Dawes to a sin bin for a high tackle Stratford stuck at it, pushing on into the Sills half. An attack which featured two jinking runs from Davis with only one carrier between his, going to show the effort exerted at this late point in the match. A sweeping move to the right should have put Tofighi in for a try in the right corner, but a high covering tackle put him into touch, a penalty but bizarrely not a penalty try.
Following this, Stratford tapped the penalty and went quickly, with Walton bruising over the line with support from his fellow forwards but adjudged to be held up. His bulk and experience were plain to see after his introduction though still not enough to get the ball down.
The game finished following a Stratford lineout on the left, 5 m from the Sills line. Gathered and brought down, the referee deemed it knocked on as Stratford set to drive forward. Blowing the final whistle, the referee ended the match with Sills the victor, 41-14. On another day, with Stratford executing their plays it could have been a very different story. Next week they return to Pearcecroft, hosting Edwardians in a 14:15 KO.
Stratford XV: 1. Michael Dawes* 2. Ben Cole* 3. Tom Stanley* 4. Zak Amond* 5. Laurence Birch* 6. Sam James* 7. Jonny Smith* 8. Jamie Jones* 9. Ben Humphreys 10. Gwilym Davis* 11. Charle Billings* 12. David Pritchard* 13. Nathan Geekie* 14. Armin Tofighi* 15. Andy Oliver 16. James Walton 17. Dom Wan* 18. Jake Lowe
*Denotes product of Stratford minis and juniors
