Stafford 24 Vs 22 Lichfield

A number of our older Colts stepped up into Senior rugby this weekend and to say they ‘enjoyed’ themselves, would be an understatement. For our developmental side, it was Lichfield at home again and the chance to get a much-needed W on the stat sheet.
So, to a bright sunny afternoon, remarkably like the week before with a strong breeze across the pitch. From the kick off, things looked promising, Lichfield were unable to deal with a high start and between Ed A and Tom, the home team found themselves in an advantageous position and after an Elijah penalty was kicked into the 22, the forwards had a chance to set a platform. However, some old habits of runners going away from their support meant the early work was undone.
Despite being turned away, Stafford were doing well in the scrum and some good carries by Danny and Leon, followed up by another penalty put Stafford for the second time in their opponents 22, only for another untidy set up to let the positive intent slip away.
Lichfield had now found a foothold in the game and in their centre had an out ball who was running with freedom. This was followed by a penalty kicked into the home 22 and despite good tackles from Danny, Oli and Harry W, eventually the visitors opened up the scoring (0-5).
Stafford looked to respond quickly and the ball was being moved well, by both the forwards and backs only for an isolated runner to be stripped and suddenly Lichfield were on the counter. As the ball was moved wide, Leon and Tom both went in to cover the tackle, despite the success in defence it would be costly to the team as an unfortunate clash of heads would see both players come off injured.
Despite the reshuffle, Stafford still looked good and moved the ball up the pitch. Eventually following another penalty, Stafford found themselves deep in the Lichfield 22 and after 3 phases went wider, Connor stepped back, crashed through three players and went over to equal the scores. (5-5 missed conv). I will add at this point that players need to take responsibility for their own equipment and talk to one another. As Elijah had lost his kicking tee, apparently, he ‘can't’ kick off anyone else’s, then did not tell Harry and tried a drop goal that he scuffed horribly from infront of the posts. My pad took the brunt of the frustration!
This was turning as most weeks with this crop of players into an end to end match, with plenty of positives being undone by small negatives. From the back of a scrum within our own half, Will picked from 8 and made a super break but was isolated, (have to give a nod to the Lichfield back row who blocked Tyler as he tried to get in support), but defensively both wingers (Declan and Rory) were both making ground with ball in hand but also making tackles to prevent the oppposition real go forward. There were also further injuries, Harry Neal, on as a sub for the injured Leon, made a good break only to be scragged and at the ruck took a bang to the ribs that would prevent any further action.
Before halftime , Stafford were awarded a penalty that Elijah again smashed down the line for great position, a further penalty in the 22 was run and after a couple of phases and clean recycling from the pack, Mason did what Mason does, dummy step, power , try , it was well deserved not just for the prop but for the effort the team had put in (10-5 missed conv).
As the second half started, Stafford continued the good play and carries from Farai , Oli and Connor was followed by another Elijah penalty and Stafford had moved the ball well into the opponents 22. Will and Connor again carried and after a couple more phases, Farai would again carry, this time stretching out well to score and continue the scoring (17-5 Harry W conv).
The next 10 minutes were all Lichfield, I don’t know whether the team needed to catch their breath, whether the Lichfield rotation of subs meant the return of some better players, or whether Stafford with two forwards in the back line (eventually three after Connor and Rory both got injured) were lacking some go forward but either way high tackles and some poor decisions put Lichfield level after two quick tries and suddenly ahead with a third. (17-22)
It would be a case of lets see what character the lads have and whether they could push themselves again? Well, the answer to that question can be found in Mason and Jonah who week after week show you that they have this in spades, leading from the front with carries, tackles and disrupting the breakdown, they set the stall out and the rest of the team backed them up. After good carries from Ed and Carter, Stafford were in the Lichfield 22, following a penalty the ball again was well placed into touch by Elijah and it looked like Stafford would get an opportunity for one last push. However, Lichfield won the ball and it looked like they would clear. Only for Jonah to steal the ball, offload to Ed, who powered over to level the scores, the extras were knocked over by Harry W and the home team had a slender lead (24-22)
Lichfield weren’t done and managed to gain the restart, the visitors drove down the field into the home 22 and some big tackles from Jonah, Harry W and the Collins brothers kept the visitors out, Tyler then won a penalty at the breakdown and Stafford kicked the ball out to win the game. The relief on the players faces after a really battle was clear to see.
It was a good team performance and a good game of rugby for both sets of players , credit to Lichfield who came with the right level of team and played some good rugby.
Hopefully all those who took knocks and picked up injuries come through this week ok and are back soon.
It was also pleasing to have 30+ players come to the Superbowl after and spend a couple of hours with our sponsors. There were some unusual bowling techniques on display, lets leave it at that.
So, back to training, two more games next weekend and we keep building after a positive weekend