Worcester Ladies 24 - Lichfield Ladies 24

Playing on the Sixways Stadium Pitch following the Warriors v Moseley encounter, the women’s midland rivals dished up a real feast of rugby for the 1000 fans who stayed to watch.

This game was a brilliant advert for Women’s rugby with passion, commitment and skill on show in abundance. The crowd were entertained throughout in a game which saw the lead yo yo back and forth on 7 occasions, with the resulting draw probably a fair reflection.

The home sides opening pressure saw Lichfield concede five penalties in the first ten minutes with Megan Goddard cruelly hitting the post from wide on five minutes, but then punished the visitors for their indiscretions to give Worcester the lead with a well struck kick after 9 minutes.

The game continued at a ferocious pace and Worcester appeared to be in ascendency, however an excellent line break by Vicky Jackson gave the visitors the lead, with Tash Jones adding the extras.

14 minutes gone and the home side came back with some exciting and pacey backs play, with Lydia Thompson and Steph Johnston featuring prominently. It was no surprise when Johnson collected a clearance to feed Sam Bree, who showed incredible pace beating three defenders to put Worcester back in the lead. Ceri Large converted

From the Worcester fans perspective there was  a puzzling decision to award Lichfield  a penalty try after 26 minutes  when the home side were judged to have not retreated after a quick tap and go from Mo Hunt. Sarah Nicolas, who had an excellent game a full back, converted for the visitors.

Lichfield would not lie down ,and  their  power play through the centre, with Vicky Jackson asking searching questions of the Worcester defence, saw a further penalty to the visitors converted by Sarah Nicolas.

Half time, 17-17, all to play for.

Lichfield started the second half strongly, penning the home side their own half for fifteen minutes, however, their efforts came to nothing when Sam Bree intercepted a pass to score a brilliant athletic try under the posts from her own 22. Ceri Large again took the extras to give Worcester the edge once more.

Worcester were forced to use all of their replacements due to injuries, whilst Lichfield had the relative luxury of being able to make tactical changes, which eventually took its toll on the home side and after a period of sustained pressure, and missed tackles, Emily Braund drove over the line for the visitors with Sarah Nicolas again converting to bring the scores level with 12 minutes remaining.

Both sides fought hard for the victory in closing moments and a last minute penalty in favour of Lichfield saw them opt for a line out, subsequently stolen by Lisa Campbell and after a frantic piece of brave play in their in goal, the ball was eventually moved up field for the visitors to boot into touch and end a most exciting and entertaining game.

Worcester play host to Wasps next Sunday, kick off 2.30 at Weston’s Fields, Offerton Lane (opposite Sixways).