Lymm 24 Hull 25 Report by Andy Leach
WITH no sign of an end to the North West’s rainy season, Lymm’s rearranged home fixture with semi-professional outfit Hull was moved to the all-weather 3G pitch at Burnage.
The Lymm side showed only minor changes from the one that had prevailed at Birkenhead Park seven days earlier. Horton swapped places with Harper to join Shard and Williams on the bench, whilst some shuffling of the forward pack saw the versatile Adam Bray on the flank, Higginson moving to number eight and White assuming the hooking role.
The match started in surprisingly dry conditions with Lymm on the offensive. An attacking line-out saw 18-year old lock Baldwin set off on a bullocking run to within 10m of the Hull line. Pressure from good recycled phase ball, with 19-year old centre Harris to the fore, took Lymm closer still. Hull then transgressed and McEvoy got the scoreboard moving, converting a simple penalty from 15m. 3-0
The first 15 minutes were pretty much all Lymm, with forwards making hard yards and the backs showing enterprise and a willingness to move the ball. With the Lymm faithful beginning to think that a failure to convert this possession and pressure into points might cost Lymm dear, on 15 minutes Lymm duly obliged. As Harris was seemingly being bundled into touch 30m out, he succeeded in making an outrageous offload to captain Bray, completely wrong-footing the Hull defence, who took the ball to 10m out before drawing the last defender to allow the supporting Baker to cross the whitewash, McEvoy’s successful conversion making it 10-0.
In this period though Hull had shown enough through both their forwards and backs, to suggest this would be a well matched affair. So it proved. On their first real visit to the Lymm half, Hull declined a kickable penalty to go for the corner. Their forwards catch and drive from the subsequent line-out, was joined by some backs to power over, indeed it was the Hull left winger who emerged from the pile of bodies with the ball to claim the try, which was well converted from wide-out. 10-7
The remainder of the half was a very even affair with both teams having chances to add to their tallies. For Lymm, on 35 minutes an excellent move at pace from deep appeared to have breached the Hull defence, only to be called back for what could only have been the most marginal of forward passes. Then finally, with the last play of the half, Lymm were awarded a kickable penalty 35m out, from which McEvoy duly obliged.
Half Time: LYMM 13 – 7 HULL.
After an extended half-time break, with Hull seemingly finding the warmth of the changing rooms to their liking, Lymm started on the offensive and soon increased their lead when, on 42 minutes, McEvoy slotted a penalty over from 20m. 16-7.
Their now followed what proved to be the game-deciding period of play. On 45 minutes a Lymm attacking platform was halted as the referee spotted an offense. From the ensuing penalty Hull found touch 8m out from the Lymm line and the next 12 minutes the match was played out with Hull attacking in the Lymm “red zone”. Whilst Lymm’s defence was excellent, they just could not do enough to relieve the pressure. On the two or three occasions when it looked as if they had turned-over Hull’s ball, the referee had spotted an offense resulting in either a Hull penalty or scrum and continued pressure. Eventually, on 54 minutes the penalty count took its inevitable toll with Harper taking a team card and trudging off for a 10 minute breather. A man down, Lymm still defended stoically but then, as they spread wide to defend the flanks of the ruck, the Hull number 6 cleverly spotted a breach in the middle of Lymm’s ruck defence and strolled in unchallenged for an unconverted try. 16-12
On 60 minutes Hull again exploited their numerical advantage when their fly-half put a clever kick into the gap he had spotted behind the advancing Lymm defensive line, won the chase to kick through and then just did enough to persuade the referee that he had fairly touched the ball down for a try. This time the extras were added. 16-19
Lymm now enjoyed some respite, retaining the ball and putting pressure on the Hull defence and, notwithstanding being down a man, probably playing their most adventurous rugby of the match with full-back Knowles, in particular showing his attacking prowess. It was Knowles who on 63 minutes, having made an incisive break to within a couple of metres of the Hull line, floated a delicious pass which winger McEvoy gratefully received to touch down unopposed in the corner, albeit failing to add the extras. 21-19
Hull had taken a 14-5 advantage from their period of numerical supremacy, but Lymm were now back to their full complement and still had their noses ahead – just. The deciding last 15 minutes became more like a game of chess with the action being largely played out between the 22s and even Hull, who earlier were declining kickable penalties in favour of a more ambitious plan, recognised the arm-wrestle they were now in. First blood went to Hull when, on 70 minutes, a long-range 40m penalty success put them in front. 21-22
Two minutes later it was Lymm’s turn when a rare visit into the Hull 22 resulted in an easy 15m penalty opportunity for McEvoy, which he duly converted. 24-22.
Then on 74 minutes came the deciding score in, frankly, quite bizarre circumstances. Having been awarded a penalty 45m from the Lymm line and 5m in from touch, Hull took an age to decide what to do. Seemingly having decided that there was enough time on the clock and given the difficulty of the kick they decided to go for touch – only for the referee to explain that as the kicking tee had already been brought onto the pitch they had to go for goal. So the reluctant Hull kicker stepped forward and, to his credit, just had enough oomph for the ball to sneak over the crossbar. 24-25
The last 6 minute period was, pretty much, all Lymm possession and pressure. Close penalty calls appeared everywhere – offside, high tackle, no arms in the tackle – but the referee’s whistle stayed in his pocket and Shard’s long range failed attempt at a drop goal was all Lymm could muster.
So, for the second successive “home” match Lymm came agonisingly close to a victory, but left only with a losing bonus point, scant reward for their efforts. In the end, on the day, this was a game of small margins where the key decisions appeared to go against Lymm and the penalty count ultimately “did for” them.
The losing bonus point takes Lymm into 6th place above Rossendale, their home opponents next Saturday. Also at home, Lymm 2’s versus Preston Grasshoppers 2’s; Lymm 3’s versus Burnage 3’s. Lymm 4’s are away to Bowdon 3’s
Team:
1) Jordan Widdrington, 2) Ross White, 3) Mike Auden, 4), Aaron Rasheed 5) Will Baldwin, 6), Jack Harper, 7) Adam Bray (C), 8) Ollie Higginson, 9) Tom Baker, 10) Tom Bray, 11) Richard McEvoy, 12) Callum Harris, 13) Richard Halford, 14) Cormac Nolan, 15) Joe Knowles, 16) Dan Horton, 17) Kieron Williams, 18) Tom Shard
