Kenilworth 14 Lichfield 50: Lichfield bring up half-century but Kenilworth are not disgraced

Direct from the kick-off, Lichfield gave the earliest possible indication of the way they were to play and why they had completed every game this season with a maximum points haul.

The forwards secured possession and wasted no time in getting the ball to the pacey three-quarters who advanced the ball to the home 22 before finding the number eight who straightened for the line. An outstanding chase back and tackle by Dominic Sheehan stopped his progress but this was to prove a brief stay of execution as the ball was quickly recycled and good hands put the winger in at the opposite corner.

The difficult conversion was successful and the visitors led 7-0 with two minutes played.

Before the scoreboard could be changed, the visitors had doubled their advantage following more slick passing.

Ks responded by moving play close to the Lichfield line with the visitors forced to infringe a number of times to prevent the hosts reducing the deficit but no further action was taken.

The set scrum was one area where Ks had the slightest of edges and this did much to disrupt Lichfield’s progress, coupled with good scrum work, outstanding defence close to the line and crucial turnovers.

However, such incessant defence took its toll and a Lichfield lineout in midfield saw the ball spun wide and great hands put the centre in under the posts.

The scores were coming in twos as almost direct from the restart Lichfield scored again to secure the bonus point.

With half-time approaching the visitors sought to put the game beyond reach and another score was added, this time unconverted, to make it 33-0 at the interval.

An initial surge from Bobby Thompson provided the catalyst for a Josh Hickman try as Ks began the second half in the ascendancy.

Lichfield were guilty of successive infringements to stem the tide but eventually the ball was worked to Sheehan who darted towards the line and a fine hand-off put the busy centre in under the posts.

Tom Kendall’s two conversion meant Kenilworth had started the second half with 14 unanswered points.

With their first decent possession of the half the Lichfield backs executed some classy moves which stretched the home defence and increased the lead to 38-14.

As Kenilworth continued to press, Lichfield made good use of converting defence to attack with a number of searing breaks only halted by handling errors and a couple of quite outstanding run-downs by Nyle Beckett.

Despite the winger’s efforts the ball was recycled and the visitors scored in the left corner.

With time winding down, Kenilworth pressed for another score and a good scrum looked to be the perfect platform only for the speedy Lichfield backs to again run from deep to record another score.