by Simon Plumb
LYMM bowed out of the Cheshire Cup at the quarter final stage as they lost out 38-22 to Sale in a cracking local derby at Heywood Road.
Lymm started brightly, running with intent early on, and were rewarded with a penalty in front of the sticks, which fly half Tom Bray duly converted, 0-3 after 3 minutes. Not to be outdone Sale attacked Lymm’s line and would have crossed earlier but for an excellent try-saving tackle in the corner by former colt, full back Joe Denham.
Sale tapped and went again but Lymm were more than up to the task, with determined tackling deep in their own 22. Lymm No 8, Adam Bray was penalised with a yellow card during this period and Sale eventually crossed for a hard earned try, 5-3 after 13 minutes.
As the game wore on Sale’s dominance in the set piece, and Lymm’s shakey line-out, began to take its toll and territorial dominance followed. Lymm defended gallantly with Oli Higginson always in the thick of it and right winger Chris Owen putting a stop to numerous surges down his wing, with some solid tackles. One Sale attack resulted in them being held up on the line resulting in a 5m scrum, which eventually led to the left winger going in at the corner, duly converted, 12-3 after 20mins.
Poor handling by Sale, and strong defence kept the home side at bay for a while but it was finger in the dyke time. Lymm prop, Mike Auden, played tag yellow cards with his No 8 and left the field for handling on the floor after 30mins. The Sale scrum half took full advantage to score near the posts making it 19-3 after 33mins. Then came the turning point in the game which so often determines the final result. Lymm had the put-in at a scrum on halfway and were pushed off the ball. The lively Sale 8 broke from the back of the scrum and fed his right winger who scorched over making it 26-3 after 35mins.
Sale’s confidence soared and the young Lymm side did well to keep them out, as the final minutes of the half ticked away. In fact it was the Lymm backs who finished with a flourish as the outstanding young Lymm centre and Senior Colt, Alistair Wealthall, took a great line and burst through the Sale defence and raced into their half. Desperate defence from Sale resulted in a yellow card for their centre for infringing in the tackle area. From the resulting attacking line-out, Lymm surged into the home side’s 22. After several thrusts for the line Adam Bray eventually burst over and brother Tom converted, to make it 26-10 as the half time whistle went.
Playing with only fourteen men for 20 minutes of the first half, certainly had some bearing on the score line, with all of Sale’s points coming during this period. Adam Bray’s converted kept Lymm in the game but Sale’s forward dominance was only a foretaste. George Boaden replaced Toby Philips at scrum half, adding a little more muscle to the Lymm side, as Sale continued to move the ball left to right and back again.
However, if Lymm could score in the first quarter the result would be in question. As it was Lymm butchered two or three great scoring opportunities as they attacked in the Sale 22 and the moment was lost. Once again Sale attacked from deep and, despite strong tackling, especially from that fiery Lymm fullback Denham, Sale increased their lead with a converted try, 33-10 after 50 mins. Frustrated but galvanised the Lymm back division, clearly on a par with ball-in-hand, broke the gain line. Good hands created an overlap
on the right for Chris Owen to score wide out, which Richard McEvoy converted, making it 33-17 after 68mins. A raft of substitutions, including Tom Baker on the wing and James Kimber in the centre gave the visitors impetus but not before the Sale pack once more pushed Lymm off the ball at a 5m scrum and took the score to 38-17 with a few minutes left on the clock. Henry Baldwin, another new player at Lymm, then left the field with a head injury to applause, after putting it, not for the first time, in harm’s way.
As Sale pressed for a final score in the Lymm 22, Alastair Wealthall outrageously stole the ball in the tackle and sprinted 50m before being high tackled by the Sale centre, who was rightly yellow carded. A quick tap and moving the ball left to right again created the gap for right winger Chris Owen and his second try wide out, for a final score of 38-22.
Assistant coach John Millington commented; “With only eight of last season’s regular 1st team players on parade, I was proud of the way our youngsters competed against a good Sale team. If we carry that form into the start of the league season next Saturday at Cleckheaton, I’m confident of a positive start. Also our 2nd team are at home to Chester 2’s in the Cotton Traders’ Premiership Division and they will be looking to improve on their 7th place finish last season.”
So, what a game and is Head Coach Fletchers’ aspiration for a promotion spot a realistic possibility?
Lymm Team:
1) Dan Horton, 2) Ross White 3) Mike Auden, 4) Henry Baldwin, 5) Joe Watson, 6) Jake Ashall, 7) Sam Mullarkey, 8) Adam Bray (C), 9) Toby Philips, 10) Tom Bray, 11) Chris Owen, 12) Oli Higginson, 13) Alastair Wealthall, 14) George Boaden, 15) Joe Denman
Replacements: 16) John Millington, 17) Tom Baker, 18) James Kimber, 19) Richard McEvoy, 20) Will Titherington .
On Tuesday 23rd August Lymm had an U23’s warm up game against Sandbach, which they won 51-7
More Lymm RFC Honours
Two Lymm players, Toby Philips (Capt) and Ollie Holmes, were in the England U18’s Touch Rugby Team, which defeated Ireland 4-3 in the final of Euros Tournament in Holland over the weekend 19-21 August. Toby Philips was also voted player of the tournament.
