The top of the table clash had all the makings of a fantastic spectacle of rugby – but the result and the performance wanted by so many never materialised.
It was Old Hales who got off to the best of possible starts, regaining the kick off and working their way powerfully up the pitch through their forwards. The referee could have set his stool out for the game, with players diving off their feet and sealing off the ball at the tackle, but they were allowed to play and when a gap appeared, the scrum half broke through to feed the supporting hooker for the opening score with less than a minute played.
Lichfield had yet to touch the ball and over the next 10 minutes they started to work their way up the pitch through some good phase play. The Old Hales defence was well organised, and the city side were becoming their own worst enemy with how easily they were giving the ball away.
When a scrum was awarded to the home team on Old Hales’ 22, the call was moved to play wide, and wide they did, as some excellent running lines drew in the defence and left space for Dan Rowlands to score in the corner.
With the score at 5–7, Lichfield were showing parity with their opposition and managed to apply some pressure on the opposition defence.
But it was Old Hales who were to score next, when the Greens’ defence drifted too fast and left a hole to be run through. The ball was fed to the fastest man on the pitch who gladly raced in to score under the posts.
Lichfield once again worked their way up the pitch, and a resulting penalty saw Josh Massey convert, taking the scores to 8–14.
This was as close as the Greens got for the rest of the game, as Old Hales moved away thanks to some dubious breakdown decisions and some errors. They finished the half leading 8–24.
Glimpses were shown in the second half and much of the game was played across the middle of the pitch.
It was Old Hales who walked away with another two tries, one through pace and one through power.
Maybe the week off had come at the wrong time for Lichfield, who seemed to lack that final bit of structure to get them through a well organised defence.
The undefeated monkey is now off their back and one game does not make a season. This will surely be a learning curve to the developing side and it will be interesting to see how they respond away at Ludlow next up.
Lichfield: Machin, Gabbitass, Bassett (c), Upton, Squire, Taplin, Abel, Thompson; W Cotterhill, L Massey, J Massey, Winter, Adams, D Rowlands, G Massey. Subs: McDonough, Doubleday and Maxwell-Keys.
