Lichfield came out on the wrong end of a 24-10 scoreline at Tamworth as the hosts deservedly took the honours in the local derby encounter.
Both sides scored two tries, but the boot of home fly half Danny Norton was able to chip in with 14 points from three penalties, a drop goal and a conversion. It was his influence that was significant and he controlled the direction of the game as a consequence, especially from the 30 minutes mark.
Lichfield started well and had manufactured a smart try within five minutes with Kai Lucas-Dumolo scooting over from 25 metres out.
On the back of this, the visitors looked purposeful with ball in hand, even on less than 50% possession. The Lichfield line out just did not function well all afternoon, losing seven on their own throw in the game which produced telling momentum swings at key times. The Myrtle Greens’ scrum was always on top, but Tamworth coped well enough with a retreating front eight.
The away side extended their lead on the half-hour mark when Paul Maxwell-Keys used his guile to glide through a porous home midfield defence to score a fine solo try.
This was, however, the end of the good news for Lichfield as they had already started to struggle in the tackle area.
Their hopes of victory disappeared with the referee giving the visitors a lot to think about with his breakdown rulings. The Tamworth forwards – with Josh Roe, Macauley Green and Kit Smith always willing runners – thrived on the additional possession and in the final ten minutes of the half, Norton brought the score back to 10-9.
In the early part of the second period, the whole of the home side seemed further enthused and much more confident in their systems and processes and were now winning the collisions.
After ten minutes of mounting pressure, Tamworth went blind in the Lichfield 22 and left wing Jack Dalton squeezed in the corner to give the hosts the lead for the first time.
Unfortunately, the writing was on the wall for Lichfield as they were forced more and more into their own half – only visiting the opposition 22 once in the second period.
The Tamworth forwards continued to batter away with purpose and it was no real surprise when Smith barged over from close range, Norton converted and then added a final penalty, as the Lichfield error and penalty count mounted.
In the final moments, the Myrtle Greens sought to rescue a bonus point, but were by now forcing passes from messy possession so their efforts came to nought and they had to go home with some salutary lessons to be learnt and in need of some returning personnel to at least keep their second position.
The firsts now have a two week break until they welcome Mellish on 6th January.
Elsewhere this weekend, both women’s teams continued their unbeaten league form.
The red team defeated Long Eaton 41-7 and the Green team won 50-7 at Oadby Wyggestonians meaning both sides go into the Christmas break at the top of their leagues.
