Under 16s hold on for well deserved victory at Lichfield

Sutton Coldfield Rugby Club Under 16s

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Lichfield U16’s 22 Sutton Coldfield U16’s 27

Sutton’s under-16s warmed up for next weeks North Midlands Cup semi-final with a hard fought victory over local rivals Lichfield. In perfect rugby conditions both sides struggled to make the most of the conditions to exert influence and take control of the game. It was Sutton who had the majority of possession in the opening exchanges but in their first attack of the game it was Lichfield who opened the scoring in the right corner. It took a further five minutes for Sutton to open their account. A long defensive clearance was chased down and the resultant mayhem in the Lichfield defence led to a scrum with a green shirt put in. A classic move wide right provided space for winger Myles Bean to skip through to score and set up a conversion for Paolo Parisi. Five minutes later Bean caught an attempted kick clearance and jinked his way past five tackles to score again, with Parisi converting for a second time.
The game then went through a period where neither side created much in the way of penetration but on the stroke of half-time some sloppy defence by Lichfield allowed skipper Nobby Hawkins to score and provide Sutton with a 19-5 lead at the mid-point.
Soon after the start of the second half Sutton extended their lead with a penalty from Parisi before Lichfield scored with a burst through the middle. Back came Sutton and from a line out on the left number eight Jonny Mills forced through to score. But Lichfield responded strongly with a further two tries to set up a tense final five minutes with Sutton just holding on for victory.