Silhillians 27 Kenilworth 15: Champagne moments are a distant memory for Kenilworth

Having won eight out of ten games prior to the new year, Ks appeared to suffer from a rugby torpor in which they were slow in thought and deed.

They finished the season safely in mid-table and some 14 points above their nearest rivals but they will be disappointed that 2015 has seen few impressive performances.

Silhillians were playing for their league lives and, backed by the wind, started the game at a tremendous pace.

Kenilworth were two tries and 12 points down within ten minutes.

They spent almost all of the opening period frantically defending with Silhillians adding a penalty to stretch their lead to 15.

Kenilworth replied with a solitary penalty from Josh Hickman before deciding to join the party.

There was some excellent work in the scrums and lineouts and some powerful forward drives built around James Wadey, Ed Holmes and Ross Lowthian.

Someone in blue, however, appeared to have offended the referee who awarded a stream of penalties against the visitors.

Ks did not help themselves when they failed to clear a ball from a scrum on their own line leading to another soft try for Silhillians to take the score to 22-3.

The visitors started to exert more pressure, leading to a fine try out wide for Ross Lowthian following good work from Gareth Renowden and Arthur Haynes.

The large Kenilworth support were convinced the deficit was retrievable in the second period, particularly as the visitors had the wind in their favour and had finished the first half on top.

Soon after the restart, however, Silhillians added their bonus-point try which meant as long as they hung on to their advantage, their Midlands West One status was secure.

Kenilworth responded well, with stand-in skipper Mikkel Andreson enjoying another fine game. He was involved in setting up a fine try close to the posts for Gareth Renowden, converted by Josh Hickman, to cut the deficit to 12 points.

Kenilworth’s optimism was cut short when Andreson received a yellow card for a late tackle with ten minutes remaining.

But they remained on the front foot and Silhillians were guilty of conceding a number of penalties close to their line.

Following a quick tap from one, Ks’ forwards were convinced they had scored but the referee was not, awarding a five-metre scrum to the attacking side and denying a grandstand finish.

 Conor Barron and Oscar Haynes both crossed twice as Kenilworth Cavaliers won 41-22 at Silhillians 2nds.

Rich Allen and Tommy Jones also touched down with Harry O’Brien adding four conversions and a penalty.