Walsall RFC Ltd

Lichfield v Walsall

Sunday 15th January 2017, Staffordshire League Game Round 6. A boggy derby day!

Walsall travelled to Lichfield today in a Staffordshire league game. A good spirited encounter got underway. Walsall started really well scoring within 11 mins, after a great rolling maul from their line out. Off the the back of it created good forward momentum, which saw a well timed run from Luke Cox. He took the ball at pace and used good power and balance to have the determination to use his footwork and break two tackles going over in the left hand corner. Conversion missed. 0-5

Then Lichfield seemed to take it badly, they came out like a wounded animal fighting for any and all scraps of possession. It was all Lichfield until halftime. It took the home team just 6 mins to reply to the early away try. 5-5

Lichfield had the lion’s share of the ball, meaning the Bandits had to defend well. In parts of the game we drifted away from the fact that in fact rugby is a team game. Attack as a team and defend as a team. Take nothing away from Lichfield, they dug deep and worked better than the Bandits today. Running 2 more tries didn’t help. 17-5

I think realistically Walsall took it lightly that, turn up and take the points from Lichfield. Complacency was the key today.

Half Time Lichfield 17 Walsall 5

Changes were made at half time and all players agreed that the Bandits weren’t performing to their full potential.

The second half started better, seeing the balance of play shift towards the Bandits. With a fresher outlook on the game Lichfield were pushed back towards their 22 metre line. Good pressure turned into points. 3 phases of play saw the ball placed into Anthony Smith’s hands, who gratefully accepted a chance to run at the Lichfield defence. After showing good balance and a dummy pass, he brushed a tackler away to crash over near the posts. Conversion missed. 17-10

Lichfield applied pressure, getting into the danger area near the visitors 22. They were awarded a penalty. Slotted over, just. 20-10

Again it was a heavy muddy bog that both teams played well considering the surface. Lichfield were more economical with the ball. Forging good structured phase play up the field. Resulting in a well worked try to score through a non existent pillar defence.25-10

A spirited rally saw a fight back from Walsall. It was encouraging to see, even if it was too little too late. Excellent play from the kick off was met by a wall of red squeezing and stifling any space Lichfield had, seeing pressure reap its rewards. Exchanges and ball carries between several pairs of hands saw the ball rest in Liam McDermott hands. He had a bit to do but Liam being Liam, licked his lips at the challenge and delivered the goods with an enterprising run. Seeing him score to the right of the posts. Converted by Tom Harris. 25-17.

Tension was mounting, was this the tidal wave come back? Lichfield kick off again, The Bandits were finishing strong, so strong they collected the ball out on the left side of the pitch and forged up the pitch. Passing was very good considering the weather conditions. The last try came after a good steal midfield from a ruck Lichfield thought they had secured. The ball worked fast through the backline, Joe Birch burst through the cover defence making a massive hole in the defence, offloading in a tackle which gave Filip Kozlowski chance to stretch his legs and on the way to score sit a Lichfield player on his back side. Fil continued as close to the posts as possible. Converted by Tom Harris. 25-24

With 3 mins left Walsall tried really hard to win the game but overworked the ball on at least 4 occasions, offloading before the support arrived or hanging on too long and gave a penalty away.  

Credit to them, they tried to rectify a really bad start. Too little too late.

In short, lost the first half 17-5. Won the second half 8-19

Positives in every game if you look hard enough.

Right, we all know where the battle was won or lost. It's gone, the lads know what to correct as each player agreed. As a squad we underperformed today.

Onwards and upwards, DK away next week. Let’s get ready for our next game.

Your biggest fans enjoy watching you, keep smiling and enjoying your rugby!

James & Rob.