STOW ON THE WOLD 38 | 31 LICHFIELD

MATCH REPORT
STOW ON THE WOLD 38 | 31 LICHFIELD
PAPA JOHN’S COMMUNITY CUP

In amongst some good open, running rugby from both sides, there were some strange and unusual (almost surreal) events taking place during this Papa John’s Community cup match. The home side just about deserved to win this game of eleven tries, as they were more clinical at crucial times, they also seemed to get more of the rub of the green from my impartial vantage point.
Lichfield certainly did not bring their ‘A’ game with them down the M40 to Gloucestershire and considering they had the best defensive record in the league, their tackling against some sharp Stow backs was disappointing. Yet they did lots of positive and effective things throughout and were hammering away at the home side’s try line for the last five minutes of this game seeking a draw. Their scrum was totally dominant and yet received no reward from an erratic referee, who fell out with most of the players and coaches on a regular basis. When he fell out with someone, the lecture was long winded and we even had a situation where he walked off from the players to half way and made all 30 players walk 25 over to him for a real boll***ing, which did cool tempers, to be fair to him. Hence the second half lasted well over 50 minutes according to the scoreboard.
The visitors were also turned over in the tackle or breakdown too often. The breakdown was a lottery at times. It certainly contributed to an unpredictable flow to the game, the ball would be going one way under one side’s control and would then be heading off the other way, there was more than a hint of sevens about this match.
As well as having a set of backs, who did a ‘’Lichfield on Lichfield’’, Stow’s offloading game worked well with support always on hand and their rush defence closed the Lichfield backs down on an afternoon when the city side ran everything from everywhere. Consequently, they were a bit too predictable.
For the opening minutes, Lichfield had the game under control with plenty of possession. One attack down the right flank after ten minutes had Stow scrambling to defend their try line and when Lichfield were penalised at the breakdown five metres out, we had a very rare occurrence. Jamie Gibbs, the home scrum half, who was always quick to have his fellow backs involved, tapped the ball (right mark?) and ran to half way totally unopposed and untouched before giving a scoring pass to Ben Collett to run in from 50 metres. The other 28 players just watched on. Quite incredible viewing!
For the next twenty minutes, Lichfield were in almost total control. Charlie Milner, back from injury, Rich Burton and David Mott scored tries, which reflected this control, with Kai Lucas-Dumolo adding two conversions. Stow fought back at the end of the half and proceeded to score two tries, based on patient build ups, through the lively Giles King (hooker) and Gus Hayward, in the centre, up from full back. The half ended all square at 19 apiece.
The momentum at the start of the second half was all Stow’s, as they exploited some indecisive Lichfield defence. Left wing, Cam Tyler, consequently scored twice from long distance and Stow had now scored four unanswered tries rather too easily. Paul Maxwell-Keys, straightening the line well, grabbed a much needed try for the ‘’myrtle greens’’ to bring the score back to 31-24 to Stow. The script went Stow’s way, however, and King scored from 40 metres out beating five Lichfield defenders on the way – not bad for someone with 2 on his shirt – and Charlie Slatter’s fourth conversion settled the outcome. There was still time for Burton to score a second try, converted by Lucas-Dumolo, but Stow’s energetic rearguard held sway for those long final moments, which took us towards the hour mark.
To add to the day’s unpredictable feel, Long Eaton, who had all their big guns playing, conceded 52 points in their home defeat to Northampton Old Scouts. For the final game of the season, we make the trek to Northampton on Saturday, KO 3pm, looking to potentially prevent the hosts from winning this pool of four teams – with Long Eaton going to Stow.
The 1st XV ladies team is due to play at Twickenham on 12 May against Old Albanians at 3pm. The girls’ U14s, along with the boys’ 13s, 14s, 15s, 16s and the colts, have all qualified for county finals this season and the men’s 2s added to this list last Saturday. They defeated Burton 36-19 at home in the newly run clubs’ reserve cup. Harrison Stratford scored twice in the opening twenty minutes, either side of the visitor’s opening try, with Kieran Higgins, Harry Hitchen, Isaac Craig and Michael Turner also crossing the whitewash, whilst Chad Southam converted three of them. They now go to Leek on Saturday, KO 3pm (tbc), for the final hurdle.
In an effort to bridge the gap between the boys’ 16s and the colts, the club organised a match on Friday evening at Longton – termed as 16s and 17s group – and they won comfortably by 45-7. In the Lichfield Friday night under the lights, the under 13s defeated Old Northamptonians by over 50 points.
There are games taking place this Sunday, including the women’s final (home) league game against Hitchin at 2:30pm, which will serve as a useful ‘’warm up’’ for their Twickenham trip.
Report c/o Dave Lewis