LICHFIELD Ladies’ hopes of playing at Twickenham in consecutive seasons were extinguished at Old Albanian Saints.
But the city side will still be encouraged by a plucky performance from the whole squad.
A nervy start saw unforced errors see Lichfield 14-0 down after 11 minutes, partly due to the lightning pace of former Harlequins and Wasps winger Makeda Lewis.
The Myrtle Greens began to grow into the game and they opened their account with Kaz Kacirkova scoring a sublime try from halfway. Things could have been even better had Molly Draycott not had a score disallowed for a knock on.
But despite the visitors’ best efforts, Saints went in 26-7 ahead at half-time.
The second period saw an improvement as the scoreline held firm until the last 15 minutes when the hosts ensured the victory when sub Claire-Aimee Grimshaw dashed through a gap in the Lichfield line.
The dying moments saw the scoreline given a somewhat lop-sided feel as a tiring city side were punished with two more tries from the hosts to end the game 45-7.