Match Report Courtesy of KC's Press Officer Martin Easton....

This was a case of what might have been as KC’s lost a game they could,and probably should have won after dominating territorially for most of the match.They looked sharp from the off and their early pressure was rewarded with a try inside three minutes.An incisive run by centre Nick Martin punched a hole in the visitors’ defence and his long pass to Rich Sollum enabled the winger to squeeze over in the left corner.Sils reduced the arrears to 5-3 after twelve minutes with a twenty five metre penalty knocked over by their No 9 but KC’s continued to have the upper hand with Martin and Tom Maher looking particularly lively,and flyhalf Andy McLellan’s tactical kicking keeping the visitors on the back foot.Their lineout,though,was a problem as they mystifyingly persisted in directing the ball to the middle of the line which was being bossed by Sils’ No 8 who picked off nearly every throw and as a result several promising situations came to nothing.
Sils had not been in the game as an attacking force but on twenty five minutes they threatened to break away until their No 11 was cut down by a magnificent covering tackle by Maher.The winger had in fact just put a foot in touch but the flanker was not to know that and went on to give a man of the match performance.A good take and penetrating run by McLellan then set up good field position yet again for KC’s and this time they had something to show for it,disrupting a Sils’ scrum to win a penalty which McLellan converted for an 8-3 lead.For the last ten minutes of the half KC’s had to withstand the visitors’ first period of sustained pressure,including a series of close range scrums,but their defence held firm although they did have a let off when Sils’ centre dropped the ball in the in goal area.However,by and large it had been a pretty satisfactory first half effort by the home side save that they could have done with some more points on the board.
After the restart KC’s were soon back on top,following up another long McLellan kick to win a scrum at which they were awarded a penalty.Unfortunately the chance was missed,as was a drop goal attempt soon after,but Kidder’s forwards kept pounding away and after they surprisingly stole a Sils’ lineout on the 22 McLellan added another three points with a penalty kick to stretch the lead to 11-3.As the half hour mark approached,Sils ran the ball from a lineout on halfway and some unconvincing KC’s tackling allowed their left wing to cross for a converted try which brought them to within one point of the home side at 11-10.The visitors’ No 11 was now becoming a thorn in KC’s side and after being bundled into touch just short of the line he then finished off some good Sils’ phases to put them in front for the first time with his second try.
With only ten minutes remaining KC’s fought hard to try and rescue the match but, knowing that a try was required,Sils were happy to concede penalties if they could get away with it.Right on the final whistle KC’s had one last chance when the forwards ran a penalty deep in Sils’22 but they were penalised for going off their feet at the ensuing ruck.Sils checked with the ref that time was up before kicking the ball out of play and their backslapping celebrations demonstrated how relieved they were to take the four point win.KC’s,on the other hand,had to console themselves with a losing bonus point and remain in ninth place.