Walsall Under 14’s V Lichfield
Sunday 29th Sept 2013
Walsall performed well in their first league encounter of the season, defeating reining county champions Lichfield by 27 points to 15. This was always going to be a hard fought encounter and so it proved. Walsall started with the wind at their backs but were put under immense pressure by a fast running Lichfield team. Walsall held firm and even managed to make inroads into the Lichfield half. This too and fro went on for most of the first half and Walsall made some last ditch efforts to keep Lichfield out, with some fine defending especially from Cameron Kirkbride. However this ended when Lichfield managed to gain an overlap on the left hand side and ran the try in which was unconverted. Walsall immediately his back with some strong driving play down the left which set up a ruck from which Sam Tillott fed Jamie Harding to drive over for and unconverted try to leave the half time score at 5 points apiece.
The second half continued at the same frenetic pace with a try by George Perkins being disallowed for a knock on. Lichfield then immediately hit back with fine running from their backs allowing them to cross Walsall’s line out wide on the left. This was unconverted. Walsall immediately came back into the fray with a midfield switch move between Joe Tipson and Nico Watkins allowing Nico to drive towards the line. From the following maul Alex fletcher drove towards the line and with the help of his forwards, crossed the line for an unconverted try. From the kick off Walsall were under pressure from Lichfield but managed to ship the ball out to Walsall Centre Nico Watkins who given some space, showed his pace to run the length of the pitch to score. Lichfield immediately hit back when they broke through the forwards down the right to score wide out. This left the score at 15 apiece. The final few minutes were frenetic with both sides playing well. However from a scrum close to the Lichfield line, Walsall took the ball against the head and Jamie Harding drove over for an unconverted try. With very little time left Walsall again took the ball agonist the head and Sam Tillott fed Cameron Kirkbride who showed real pace to run the try in from the halfway line. This was converted by Jamie Harding in what was the final play of a highly contested and entertaining game.