Lichfield maintained their fine start to the campaign with a victory over Melbourne.

The Myrtle Greens opened brightly, but a penalty allowed the visitors into the home 22. A couple of mistimed tackles later, the defence was breached and Brown was over near the posts to make his own conversion straightforward.

Lichfield were soon back on the front foot and scored two of their own with Burton charging over from short distance and Maxwell-Keys intercepting on half way.

For the next quarter of an hour, the pattern remained similar with the hosts having more of the play, but they were unable to add to their tally.

It needed an away side penalty from Brown after 33 minutes to kickstart Lichfield. Quick line out ball was run into midfield by two forwards, the ruck speed was perfect and an overlap was created for Lucas-Dumolo to make it 21-10 at half time.

Melbourne, who had lost four of their line outs in the first half, got themselves sorted after the turnaround and managed to establish a better toe hold in the game. They were able to examine the Lichfield line speed and alignment more often and it was found wanting on 50 minutes when Travers was given space and there was no catching him.

Soon after, Josh Butler was yellow carded. When the Cooke Fields side tried to defend a five metre scrum minus a back, it did not succeed and Brown squeezed in the corner to narrow the advantage to a point.

The turning point came on 65 minutes when a late and unnecessary tackle by Mackenzie Welsh resulted in a yellow card. The resulting penalty was kicked to the corner and Burton was at the back of the maul as it rumbled over.

Lichfield then exploited a shaken and weakened Melbourne rearguard and generated a numerical overlap for Maxwell-Keys to finish comfortably near the posts.

There was still time for one last pacy attack from the visitors and there was no stopping Travers as he earned his side a bonus point.

Elsewhere, the 2nds lost 27-17 at home to Syston, while the Colts came back from the trip to Hereford with a 24-14 triumph.

Founder of Lichfield Live and editor of the site.