Report by David Millachip
LYMM and Billingham shared the spoils in a thrilling 25-25 draw up in a freezing North East.
It’s always a pleasure to make the long journey to the North East to benefit from the hospitable welcome of the Teesside hosts, on this their Christmas Jumper theme day. With temperatures on or below freezing, the game against a much improved Billingham, winners of 8 their last 9 games, was never likely to be the repeat of the straight forward victory Lymm had enjoyed at home earlier in the season.
The ice covered car park indicated as much but their new, floodlit pitch, provided by the RFU under its 365 Artificial Grass Pitch (AGP) Programme, ensured that the match was never in doubt.
There were some changes to the Lymm squad that played against Harrogate. Rick Halford started on the wing in place of the unavailable Richard McEvoy; Aaron Rasheed started in the 2nd row with Joe Watson moving to the back row. 2nd Row, Ben Rees came onto the bench, joining teenage prop Matty Hand, and flanker Jake Ashall.
As expected both sides started with an open fluid passing game with the action contained between the 22m areas. Lymm drove forward in the early stages but were well contained by the solid Billingham defence who, on 12 minutes, repelled a Lymm scrum 5m out but a couple of minutes later Lymm’s continual pressure forced Billingham back again and captain Adam Bray drove over close to the left hand post, with Cormack Nolan’s converting, 0-7. The game continued in its seesaw pattern and just 4 minutes later Billingham gained a scrum on Lymm’s 22m line on the right from which they moved the ball swiftly across field for jinking winger Tom Briggs to score wide on the left, an excellent kick from their scrum half Dan Finney evened the scores, 7-7.
On 25 minutes Billingham found themselves offside 27m out in front of their posts and Nolan was on target with the resultant penalty to put Lymm in front, 7-10. Billingham’s defence was now under pressure once more and on 31 minutes conceded a scrum 5m out from which the ever alert Aaron Rasheed seized the ball, forcing his way over 15m in on the right, Nolan’s added the extras, 7-17. Scrum half Andy Davis sustained a nasty ear injury at this point and had to retire from the fray but was able to return after half time following some patching up. The hosts made ground into the Lymm half and were rewarded with a penalty which Finney converted, 10-17. The entertaining game continued in its flowing end to end manner, until a Lymm handling error on 39 minutes gave Billingham a scrum 10m out on the right. Good ball control by their forwards resulted in Martin Hopley touching down for an unconverted try making it 15-17 at the break.
The interval gave the opportunity for cold bodies to become even more frozen and 9 minutes into the 2nd half, Lymm did not retire smartly enough 20m out in front of their posts, giving Billingham an easy penalty kick and go ahead for the first time to the vociferous acclaim of their supporters, 18-17. Indeed the highly entertaining and fluctuating game raised supporters’ voices even further as the game progressed and in the 69th minute, a Billingham indiscretion 30m from their line on the right gave the opportunity for Nolan to step forward once again and silence the home voices, 18-20. Back to the Clubhouse end and heavy pressure from Billingham forced Lymm to raise their defensive game yet again. On 71 minutes Lymm conceded a scrum wide on the right and from a slick passing movement, full back Elliot Husband crossed on the left amid considerable home crowd volume, this time Finney slotted over a great kick, 25-20.
Billingham supporters thought they were about to see a winning victory over the 2nd placed Lymm side. However Lymm were not in the 2nd league slot by default and not about to go down to only their second defeat of the season. From the kick off they encamped in the Billingham half and with their 15 man, all player running game had Billingham struggling to contain the Cheshire hoards bearing down on them. With just 4 minutes remaining, open side Ali Sutherland, drove over out on the right, 25-25. Having become accustomed to Nolan’s unerring kicking Lymm’s eyes were now on taking away 4 winning points but were to be disappointed, his kick drifting agonisingly wide to the left.
Injured coach Adam Fletcher was now on his feet waving his crutch at his team threatening a Christmas Eve training session as he extorted them to further efforts, but sadly to no avail. So, 25-25 was the final score as referee Mr Riley blew the final whistle on a superbly well fought and thoroughly entertaining game, with both sides well deserving their 2 points, the result being uncertain to the very end. Perhaps Lymm had not been as clinical, fluent and consistent as its supporters had come to expect but Billingham were their match in both attack and defence. They benefitted from Lymm making slightly more handling errors, the freezing temperature no doubt contributing in this respect. In the end a fair result in what was an entertaining, nail-biting, match for spectators.
Squad: 1) Gav Woods, 2) Adam Bray (C), 3) Dan Horton, 4) Aaron Rasheed, 5) Matty Connelly,
6) Joe Watson, 7) Ali Sutherland, 8) Sam Mullarkey, 9) Andy Davies, 10) Scott Redfern, 11) Joe Denman, 12) Tom Bray, 13) James Kimber, 14) Richard Halford, 15) Cormac Nolan, 16) Matty Hand, 17) Ben Rees, 18) Jake Ashall.
The festive period brings with it a welcome rest for the players to overcome minor injury niggles. Lymm are back in action on 6th January at home to Sandal, 2.15 p.m. KO.
