Pinley U15’s v Lichfield U15’s – Friendly Match – 21st November 2021

Chief Sports Correspondant - Will Parker

KO 11:00am Lichfield kicked off on the Pinley first team pitch and played towards the Clubhouse in the first half. Weather conditions were bright and sunny, but very cold in the shade, ground firm to soft

2 mins Lichfield try. After Pinley were awarded a free kick the clearing kick to touch missed and was gathered by Lucas Laing who cleverly chipped the ball over the top of the onrushing defence to regather to be eventually hauled down just short of the line, the supporting Will Beard regathered to crash over for his first Lichfield score, congratulations Will and welcome to the team!

Conversion attempt unsuccessful
8 mins Lichfield try. After a Pinley line out the ball was lost by them in the centres and regathered by Lucas Laing who shipped the ball out to Ruben Slack who scorched around the defence and scored wide out in the corner, another first time try scorer for Lichfield, congratulations Ruben!
Conversion attempt unsuccessful

13 mins. Lichfield try. Pinley won the ball from a scrum and moved the ball along the backs but great pressure from Fynn Ward breaking like Usain Bolt from the scrum ensured he caught the ball carrier to disrupt play, from the subsequent maul Lichfield ripped the ball and moved the ball out to Lucas Laing who displayed his dancing feet to wrong-foot the defence, he cut back against the grain and set off to the corner, he was held and popped the ball out to the supporting Will Beard who was able to go over for his second try with two other players also in support – a fantastic team try this one!
Conversion unsuccessful

17 mins. Lichfield try. Lichfield secured a line out and recycled the ball well, moved the ball out along the backs, an inside pass was deployed to allow Will Beard to make a 50m break to be just held up short of the line, he was able to offload the ball to the supporting Chaz Vernon to score, another great team try!
Conversion successful

20 mins. Lichfield try. A driving maul from the lichfield lineout saw Finn Freeman peel off and made 20m with a strong carry, the ball hit the deck but was swept up by Matt Allen (supporting play like all good scrum halfs should) providing the link to pass the ball on to Chaz Vernon who cut back and drove to within 2m of the try line where he was tackled, from the ruck Fynn Ward, again supporting superbly, picked up to drive over for the score
Conversion successful

24 mins. From a solid Lichfield scrum, the ball was popped up to Lucas Laing from Matt Allen who cut back on the blind side of the scrum and used his step effectively again to run the try in from 60m, a great individual score from a great set piece!
Conversion unsuccessful

Halftime Pinley 0 – 34 Lichfield

40 mins. Lichfield try. From the Pinley kick off to start the second half, Freddie Clarkson caught the ball and set off on a run before being tackled and setting up the ruck. The ball was recycled twice by Lichfield before Lenni Payne cut back in the centres to run the try in from the 22m line
Conversion successful

45 mins. Lichfield try. After a period of great ball retention and recycling by the Lichfield backs and forwards, Ruben Slack was released to run the score in under the posts – another really great team try!
Conversion successful

52 mins. Lichfield try. After great forward pressure Lichfield drove Pinley off the ruck ball to secure possession, the ball was moved out to the backs and eventually to Will Beard who scored under the posts from 20m – his hat trick try!
Conversion successful

58 mins. Lichfield try. After a penalty awarded to Lichfield in the Pinley 22m was moved quickly to the left where Lichfield recycled from the ruck and moved left again for Chaz Vernon to cut back and score
Conversion successful

60 mins. Lichfield try. The ball was kicked by Pinley for Ruben Slack to recover on his own 10m line where he set off on a bullocking run back across the Pinley 22 breaking and evading several tackles to score to the right hand side of the posts – not to be outdone by Will, this was his hat trick try too!
Conversion unsuccessful

Final score Pinley 0 – 67 Lichfield

Wow lads….what great team play! Pinley weren’t the strongest opposition today but they never gave in so take nothing away from your victory lads, it was well deserved. You stuck to your processes and were really good in the set pieces – line out and scrum, your rucking was on point today with special mention to Fynn Ward in his first game at Flanker, a dynamic non-stop performance, tackling and jackalling like he’d been playing in the position for years, well done Fynn. The backs were exceptional too, with great interplay, using moves at the right time showing great game management, you too can be proud of yourselves but probably most importantly, you played as a team and were awesome to see in action, you were really on it lads it was a pleasure to watch. Another point to note, the lads that didn’t get a name check (which were limited to the try scoring moments) must also be roundly praised because without their application and hard work, none of this would have been possible – again showing the importance of team work, and the whole squad of players.

We scored 11 trys today, with 6 conversions. Will and Ruben scored 3 trys each, Chaz scored 2 tries with Lenni, Fynn and Lucas scoring 1 each. Lucas’ 6 conversions gave him a personal haul of 17 points

Let’s build on this in Wednesday night’s training lads, let’s be dynamic, lets raise the intensity and urgency and get right up to boiling point for Sunday’s cup game against Telford – today showed you have all the weapons in the armoury to win this game, we just have to show up and put it all into practice on the day!!