Lichfield RUFC moved three points clear at the top of the table, after overcoming a raft of injuries to beat Barkers Butts 42-5.
With injuries to several key players, the starting XV had an unfamiliar look to it. Regular open-side flanker Charlie Milner was deployed as an emergency inside centre, Nick Southern moved from second row to number eight and Paul Maxwell-Keys switched to the left wing.
But the visitors still signalled their intent straight from the kick off. Tom Adams collected the restart and offloaded to Maxwell-Keys who was hauled down just short of the line.
With the ferocity of Lichfield’s defence and the pressure being applied to Barkers set piece, an early try was somewhat inevitable and came after just five minutes. Derrick Squire was on hand to cross the line after good work from Charlie Milner in midfield.
Barkers were on the ropes and the Myrtle Greens wasted no time adding to their early score. Southern offloaded nicely from the base of the scrum in the build up to a first try for Maxwell-Keys, who quickly doubled his tally by rounding his opposite number to score under the posts. Luke Massey added the conversion to take the score to 0-17.
After a ruthless opening to the game, Lichfield started to force the issue too much in rapidly worsening weather conditions. A series of dropped balls and unnecessary turnovers gave Barkers prolonged possession for the first time of the match, and they started to pose questions of the traveling defence.
During this spell, George Cotterhill was the unfortunate recipient of a yellow card for persistent infringements at the break down.
Despite this try line pressure, Lichfield were able to hold out and wrap up the four-try bonus point before the break. Loose-head prop Sam Craddock showed good strength to cross wide on the left and take the half time score to 0-22.
The players were treated to the full force of the elements at the start of the second half, which made moving the ball quickly through the hands pretty much impossible.
Lichfield were happy to engage in the inevitable territorial battle and keep the ball out of their half as much as possible.
Crucially, Barkers were the first to succumb to the frustration of this aerial ping pong and throw an over ambitious pass which Maxwell-Keys gratefully intercepted to secure his hat-trick.
As was the case in the first half, the breakthrough sparked a flurry of well taken tries. Tom Adams ran a smart line off the back of a dominant scrum to extend the lead beyond 30 points.
The outside centre then repeated the trick just six minutes later, crashing through the heart of the home defence after a nicely executed backs play.
With ten minutes to go, Lichfield were all set to whitewash their opponents for the first time this season. Unfortunately, the Barkers inside centre capitalised on a rare defensive lapse to get his side on to the scoreboard at 5-37.
But this was brief respite for the hosts, as the visitors deservingly had the final say. Luke Massey made the initial line break, and the ball was spread quickly to Cotterhill who marked his first appearance of the season with a well taken try.
Lichfield: Craddock, Clarke, Bassett, Thompson, Squire, Turner, Abel, Southern; Clark, L Massey, Maxwell-Keys, Milner, Adams, G Cotterhill, Lote. Subs: Taplin, Raybould.