Lichfield U15’s v Longton U15’S – Friendly Match – 26th September 2021

KO 11:00am – Conditions fine, had been raining but sunny at KO time on 2nd Team pitch
Lichfield played 1st half kicking off and playing away from the Club House end

7 mins – long injury break as two Longton players hurt and substituted, game restarted with a Lichfield scrum on Longton 10m line

10 mins – Lichfield head injury to Luke White, came off as slightly dizzy, Akim Njie came on as flanker

11 mins - Lichfield try by Charlie Semple after attacking scrum on Longton 10m line, blindside attack culminating in solo run to score under the posts with great determination

Conversion by Captain for the day Lucas Laing

15 mins – Lichfield try by Zack Birkett Potter, ball moved along the backs with great continuity and great rucking to score in the far left hand corner

Conversion unsuccessful

22 mins – Longton try, ball moved from right wing to left along backs, ball gathered by impressive Longton No7 to score from 22m out
Conversion successful

Half Time – Lichfield 12 – 7 Longton

45 mins – Longton scrum, Lichfield drove them off their ball – first scrum against the head for the Boys in any form of Rugby…fantastic!

46 mins – Lineout to Longton, No7 kicked over the top and chased to regather with a fortunate bounce to score under the posts, valiant effort from Matthew Allen to haul him down but momentum carried the 7 over

Conversion successful

50 mins – Sustained pressure after a series of strong runs saw Lichfield knock on over the Longton try line, from the resultant scrum Longton cleared their line

51 mins – Longton try, after another impressive scrum effort from Lichfield Longton managed to clear their lines, another huge kick from the No7 was gathered by Matthew Allen who passed to Charlie Jackson who was unfortunately isolated and the ball was forced loose and fell fortuitously into the Longon 12’s arms who ran half the pitch hugging the touchline to score in the corner

Conversion successful

58 mins – Longton knock on in the Lichfield 22 was hacked ahead several times by Lucas Laing, but the despairing dive to ground the ball for the try just eluded his grasp – great individual effort

59 mins – Lichfield try, another huge concentrated effort from the boys pressuring the Longton line resulted in Fynn Ward diving over to touch down

Conversion successful

The conversion attempt was the last play of the game

Final Score – 19 Lichfield – 21 Longton

Another hugely entertaining game with aspects and passages of play from the Boys never seen before, a great physical effort from all involved against a side who are widely regarded as the strongest in Staffordshire in our age group. It’s a measure of how far we’ve come in the last 12-18 months that all were disappointed in a game that ‘got away’ from us! We have a complete game somewhere in the locker if we can piece all elements of our play together, it’s really satisfying for the Coaches and Parents alike, we’re all really proud… so keep up the progression Boys, no slacking off now!!

Chief Scribe: Will Parker