Lichfield moved themselves to the top of the table as they beat Walsall 34-12 at Cooke Fields.
The Myrtle Greens jumped above Long Eaton – who failed to register a try bonus point at the summit – with their weekend triumph.
It took Lichfield 17 minutes before Ditch Burton could power his way over from a give metre scrum. Kai Lucas-Dumolo converted.
Three minutes later Lucas-Dumolo then crossed the whitewash, with the Walsall backs defence struggling to cope with a quick attack. Ten minutes later, he doubled his tally in very similar circumstances.
The last few minutes of the half were not good. Firstly, a Lichfield penalty was reversed and Walsall’s Dean Ainger reacted quickly to score.
A red card also saw the hosts forced to play the second period with a man less – but they coped well.
The restart saw Lichfield in the ascendancy territorially, but they could not break through the Walsall wall until Sam Benson’s quickly taken penalty outsmarted the defence. The conversion saw the score move to 24-5.
Walsall did score next, as Corbon Clarke-Selby picked off a home line out with Mitch Carless converting.
But the home side were soon back on the attack and they took the three on offer when the visitors were penalised in front of their own posts, Lucas-Dumolo kicking it to go with two second half conversions.
The final try summed up proceedings. Walsall tried to run from deep, lost the ball in contact and quick hands released the ball to the prominent Cal Turner, who scored comfortably by the sticks.
There is no men’s rugby next Saturday, although the women and the colts are in action on Sunday (8th October).
The 1st XV is back in action on 15th October at Wolverhampton, with the next home game the following week against Newark, both kicking off at 3pm.
Last weekend, the women defeated Chester 55-5 in the National Intermediate Cup.
