Our roving reporter, Alex Froude, fresh from watching the Lichfield u13s:

After last weeks great away win at Stratford, the U13s squad were up against arguably their toughest test to date with a visit to Old Halesonians RFC.

With the game in doubt for much of the morning due to heavy storms and flooding it was an achievement and a credit to the parents that the boys made it to the fixture on time, negotiating a flooded M5 junction and torrential rain.

This disrupted start may have affected the Lichfield team as within the first quarter of the match, a well drilled Old Halesonians pack lay siege to the Lichfield lines. Drive after drive hit the Lichfield defenses, but despite the best efforts of the Lichfield boys, they were 20 points down in the blink of an eye.

Now was time to show what the team was made of - with tactical changes and a motivational talk from the coaches, Lichfield spirits were lifted and the boys approached the game afresh.

In the next 10 mins (now also playing down the slope) the Lichfield u13s started to work to their strengths; supporting the ruck at pace, recycling the ball quickly in the breakdown and moving it through hands to line breaking centers and speedy wingers. This not only avoided the huge Halesonian pack but also pressurized the home sides defensive line across the full width of the pitch.

This Lichfield onslaught led to 7 unstoppable tries in 15 minutes and the Old Halesonian players and coaches were now suddenly the ones looking for all the answers.

Half time: Old Halesonians 25 – 35 Lichfield

The second half began as the first had finished, with the Lichfield backs dominating and retaining possession. The quick pace of the game was beginning to show on the Old Halesonians forwards.

Lichfield’s mighty pack began winning scrum after scum against the head via the ever-reliable hooking skills of Alfie Beddard, with Lichfield scrum-half Nic Froude eventually able to feed the ball to hard-charging centre Sam Bodenham to score from 25m out.

Sensing the tide of the game had changed the Lichfield boys began to play with more freedom, which led to some fantastic link up play; Addsion set up Fraser Neenan for a great team try followed by great harassing in the ruck, again great work from from Nic Froude, to set up a turnover leading to a typically mazy solo run and finish by DC to score.

However, Old Halesonians u13s have a well earned local reputation as a top team and were not done quite yet. Their quality in the forward line was an ever-present threat. With time running short they threatened to tighten the proceedings, bringing it back to a 5pt game.

Lichfield u13s continued to work together and backed up every ruck, every maul and attacking run showing more desire as a team to take the spoils, with Devon, Joe Wilkes (c) and Addison again showing skill and determination to get over the line for the team, all three breaking through tackles to get those vital points with minutes to go.

Well done to all the boys who played either for Lichfield or Old Halesonians – It was a fantastic game of age grade rugby, with Lichfield U13s gaining their second impressive victory on the road in a fortnight.

Final score: Old Halesonians 45 – 60 Lichfield