Lichfield RUFC welcomed fourth placed Worcester to Cooke Fields excited by the prospect of both competing against a top four team who had narrowly defeated them before Christmas.
There was also the opportunity to entertain and impress the large number of Myrtle Greens old boys who had returned as part of an event held at the club.
The game could not have started better for Lichfield, as after some sloppy interpassing between the Worcester backs the ball was loosely flung wide bouncing into the arms of the league’s top try scorer Greg Massey to sprint half the length of the pitch to score in the corner. Josh Massey then kicked a superb conversion which signified the start of an outstanding day with the boot for Josh as he seemingly appeared to be incapable of missing conversions and penalties.
Only three minutes later, the visitors strung together several phases which resulted in a penalty which was kicked to the corner. After a superb driving maul, Worcester brought the scores level at 7-7 after only four minutes.
Josh Massey kicked another penalty before Tom Adams was deemed to have slowed the ball down illegally on the Lichfield line after some stout cover defence. Tom’s actions saved the try and this seemed to galvanise the home team as the 14 men scored a superb try through an impressive run by Paul Maxwell-Keys, again converted by Josh Massey.
Worcester winger Tom Ward scored an unconverted try before Josh Massey kicked two superb penalties to take the score to 23-12 at half time.
Lichfield started the second half poorly, as the visitors were allowed to run through some weak tackles to mount pressure on the line. Worcester inside centre, Greg Fincher kicked a penalty before Steve Gabbitass was yellow carded for entering a ruck illegally.
The 14-man Lichfield squad conceded a score almost immediately after some aggressive runs by the visiting forwards allowed Gareth Owens to burrow his way over the line, converted by Fincher.
It was notable that the Worcester backs in particular were tiring and following a ten minute period in which both teams struggled to gain any territory or continuity, Lichfield finally gained authority of the game as Maxwell-Keys scored a superb try after some outstanding footwork.
Luke Massey’s distribution at fly half was effective and he soon found more space to attack himself, exploiting an outstanding side step and this threat drew the Worcester defence in closer to the ruck. The space now available to the dynamic Lichfield players – notably Callum Turner, Charlie Milner and Joe Thompson – was exploited superbly well and the with the introduction of all of the subs off the bench added even more firepower to the Myrtle Greens’ attack. Paul Fennimore and Chris Upton’s power and pace caused immediate problems and Josh Machin’s strength in the set piece allowed the hosts to score 24 unanswered points.
After some superb handling by both backs and forwards, Upton was allowed some space and he powerfully ran up the wing to score unopposed under the posts to delight of the home crowd.
Lichfield were now able to string together phase after phase, and after dynamic inroads were made by Fennimore, Adams and Cotterhill and with some outstanding off-loading by Turner, Greg Massey and Joe Thompson, Josh Massey exploited an unorganised defence to dummy and accelerate through a gap, converting his own score.
George Cotterhill was then on the scoreboard as he scored a try which began within Lichfield’s own 22m. Josh Massey converted the final score of the day to take the score to 52-22 and his personal points tally to 22.
Lichfield travel to Stratford on Saturday for their final league fixture of what has been a long and highly competitive season.
Lichfield: Taylor, Gabbitass, Bassett (c), Thompson, Squire, Turner, Milner, Burton; Aspley, L Massey, Maxwell-Keys, J Massey, Adams, G Cotterhill, G Massey. Subs: Machin, Finnemore and Upton.
