Sat 6 Dec 2025
Sometimes, one team just has it over another. There are plenty of examples of this, Spurs didn’t win at Stamford Bridge for years and years. For the Vikings it’s Birstall. 12 years of hurt (give or take, trying not to get forensic about it). The Green Dogs have spent the last few seasons in the leagues above Sileby, with head to heads limited to cup competitions; the final at Barkby Road in the President’s Cup went all the way.
But there were reasons to be optimistic. The homeside were riding the wave of their longest competitive win streak since the club joined the league set up, and two weeks before had just completed a remarkable comeback against Leicester Lions 99s. A win would set them up for a delicious end of year showdown with Rugby St Andrews for top spot, both with undefeated starts on the line.
It wasn’t to be.
Clearly the result is disappointing (at best). But it’s also fair to say that in terms of performance, it was not necessarily as bad as it seemed on the day. Birstall spent most of the first 20 minutes pinned back in their 22, and two or three times Sileby were one pass away from clear try scoring opportunities through Centre Mattie Lewis & Full Back Jack Chantrell. Sadly, poor handling would prove extremely costly. Too often the ball was spilled, both in open play and off set piece. This provided Birstall with the opportunities they needed to clear and establish territory and possession.
And with that they punished the home team. Sometimes rugby is a simple game, and in this case it was this – make your one-on-one tackles or expect to concede. First Birstall found some space outwide and broke a tackle. Despite some excellent cover defence by Josh Sawbridge and offload and a well-executed two on one later and they were under the sticks. Then a midfield scrum, a dummy, a break and a pass doubled the advantage. 0-14.
Birstall are an excellent set piece team. Their lineout operatives pilfer possession; their scrum able to turn pressure into penalties. The latter would be the source of the next two scores. First, before half time and with Prop Dave Tate having rolled his ankle, a scrum penalty was won inside the Vikings 22. A simple 3 points and the half time score would be 0-17. Then about 15 minutes into the second half the pressure told again. This time Birstall won scrum possession from a contested Sileby line out. The necessary 5 metres were pushed for the score. 0-24. The final Birstall score came 10 minutes from time. It was a tiring Vikings defence which were beginning to slip off some tackles. Ultimately Birstall moved into the home teams 22, finding a soft shoulder out wide to do down for 0-29.
It would be wrong to say that Sileby had no possession, territory or meaningful opportunities in the second half. There were plenty of occasions where Birstall’s 22 was infiltrated. However, it just didn’t click. Knock ons, crossing and a general collapse of the game plan played into the away teams hands. Even the much lauded Bum Squad couldn’t turn the tide. That was until about 10 minutes to go, when the game had become more a question of pride than of league points. Fierce carries by Hooker Ash Rideout and Winger Harry Greenbury finally took the game to the opposition, and Scrum Half Josh Freer started to find gaps around the fringes. It was Josh who would provide a final decisive pass from the base to put replacement Second Row Aaron Thurlow into a gap to cross the line, saving the blushes of a shutout.
7-29 was the final score. And whilst it felt terrible at the time, a team does not become poor overnight.
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