Lichfield saw the chance of victory snatched away from them in the second half against Oundle.
The Myrtle Greens performed more than well enough to lead 28-24 at half time against the breeze – but their struggles after the turnaround have become something of a trend that has featured in their four defeats so far this term.
They were not outplayed, but Lichfield’s game management was lacking and it gave Oundle confidence to carry on playing to their plan and it eventually led to a narrow 36-33 victory for the visitors.
Both sides had their injury problems in the opening 20 minutes. Oundle lost their captain and their winger, while Lichfield scrum half Sam Benson’s game lasted 60 seconds when he suffered serious ankle and knee damage at the first breakdown.
The breakdown is one of the city side’s biggest problems at the moment and they were penalised heavily for holding on or not rolling away.
The rugby in the first period flowed well, with both sides managing to benefit from each other’s flaws.
Lichfield opened the scoring on six minutes with Fraser Goatcher bursting off the back of a maul to score wide out and make it two tries in two appearances.
Oundle responded with two quick tries. A maul was driven 20 metres and former Northampton man Darren Fox was under the pile of bodies, before Ashley Elvers scored under the posts after Jordan Carey exploited some sketchy blind side defence.
This drew a positive response from the Myrtle Greens as Kieran Reynolds went over.
The last five minutes of the half produced a flurry of points. The hosts pounded the Oundle line with their forwards and eventually the backs were allowed to join in, with Adam Spinner’s precise grubber kick producing a try for Ben Meads.
Two minutes later, the visitors lost possession in the Lichfield 22, Jack Hurst burst away and Meads put Joe Bourne in the clear to round the full back from half way for the bonus point try.
Charlie Milner’s fourth conversion and a lead of 28-14 should have been the springboard for even better times – but unfortunately it was not.
In stoppage time, another well controlled driving maul from the visitors gave hooker Saad Sait a try. There was even time for Carey to add a penalty to his three conversions.
The second half contained less good rugby and remained scoreless for almost half an hour.
With ten minutes to go, Oundle advanced into the Lichfield red zone, but the home side’s defence did well to resist the attack. The visitors lost the ball in contact, but somehow the ball squirmed over the try line and Aaron Brown dropped on it gratefully to give them the lead, Carey converted.
To compound the agony, Joe Sagoe got round the Lichfield midfield and fly half Carey was on the wing to score.
At long last, Lichfield burst into life and, after a few close calls, Milner chipped through for Mott to score, but there was no time left for a dramatic finale.
Aled John’s 2nd XV needed a last minute try to defeat Walsall 27-24 in a league match at Cooke Fields. The home side led with four first half tries, but rotating the side disrupted their progress in the second period and the 14 man Lichfield outfit left it late to get a second win in the reserve team league.
