LICHFIELD saw their cup hopes fade away as Burton slowly squeezed the life out of their hopes in the second half of their semi-final tie.
The opening period under the floodlights at Cooke Fields was an even encounter, despite the visitors having first use of the strong cold breeze.
The game was scoreless for 33 minutes with a lot of the play taking place in the middle section of the pitch.
Just before the first try, Lichfield had bombarded Burton’s line for several minutes, but could not make the vital carry to reach the whitewash.
As soon as the visiting side cleared their lines, they scored. A short penalty just inside the home 22 gave them momentum and they found the way over the line.
Lichfield responded immediately as more try line pressure led to Kieran Higgins squeezing in the corner from Sam Benson’s snipe, with Adam Spinner converting.
At the start of the second half, it was back to the defences being on top, but Burton were soon starting to find gaps from quick breakdown possession.
Ten minutes in, the visitors made such a break through their outside backs and another quick ruck ball set up their try number two.
The score remained 12-7 for a large part of the second half, but Burton were now controlling the territorial battle and were generating vital metres with their carries on a more regular basis.
A smart grubber quick and an overlap on the right provided the cup holders with match-winning converted tries in the final 15 minutes before Rory Davis grabbed one for the home side close to full time from a tapped penalty close in.
Elsewhere, Lichfield 2nds took on an unbeaten Barton side and were narrowly beaten 26-24.
The game was settled with the hosts knocking over three conversions to two from the Myrtle Greens after both sides scored four tries.
The Barton tries came from Oli Bagnall (2), Kieran Hall and Reuben Robyns-Landricombe, with three conversions from Will Peach.
The visitors’ five pointers were courtesy of Matt Key, Harry McDonough, Finn Harrison and Ollie Green, who also added two conversions.
