With the sun going down in West London, Chiswick RFC Silverbacks (Vets) put together patches of brilliance to beat a determined Wasps RFC Vets side in the Middlesex Vets Cup Final.

With a full 25 man squad, the Silverbacks sprung into action straight away with David Hill bagging a first half hat-trick after the pack dominated the scrums to keep Wasps on the backfoot.
One particular try from Hill was a delight to watch, with the ball coming off the top of the lineout from Sam Hood (Robot) the ball was delivered on a plate by Russ Dovey to Jonathan Joyce to burst through two tackles, release his arms to offload to Nick Elliot (Elmo) who drew the full back to give Hill a simple run in under the posts.

Following Hills hat-trick the rest of the half was highly contested with big hits from both sides going in and the rucks keenly contested with Wasps using their bench wisely to pin the Silverbacks back with a lot of strong carries.
After defending for a long stretch, the Silverbacks finally managed to get the ball into Ade Lewis hands who in his colourful skins managed to zig and zag across the pitch from half way beating 5 defenders to score a wonder try.

With time running out, Hill had the chance to kick the ball out to finish the 55 minute 1st half but decided he wanted to play on which ended very well for Wasps who turned the Silverbacks over and pounded the line until their big second row got over.

HF: 24- 7

Both sides ran the changes at half time as everyone was knackered and once against Wasps continued to carry hard into the Silverbacks who manfully put whatever body part was working in front of them to keep them at bay.
After a Silverback turnover it was time for Tom Harper to show that the silver fox still has life left in his legs by breaking tackles from half way before collapsing for a rest on the Wasps 5 metre line.
Russ Dovey then delivered a beautiful 20 metre pass to replacement tighthead prop Stewy Parmeter who galloped in from 2 metres much to the delight of the crowd and squad (Stewy has shed over 30kg following a knee injury/operation to return to the silverbacks this season).

Wasps will never give up, are a cracking Vets side and continued to carry hard meaning they earned two well deserved tries during the second half.

The Silverbacks summoned the last bit of energy left to produce one more magic moment to send second row Eugene King screaming down the touchline before having his head taken off by the last Wasps defender for a penalty try.

The game ended 38-17 and the league/cup double was secured for the Silverbacks.

The Silverbacks have had loads of debuts this season plus had lads come back to play after a few years off which is brilliant to see. The Silverbacks originals led by the management team of Simon Hallet, Keith Luckman, Ben Cattliff and Dan Godfrey continue to make sure everyone understands and enjoys what being part of the Silverbacks means.

Long may we all continue to believe we are still young to enjoy the field, showers and beers.

See you all for the 2025/26 season