LYMM kicked off their National League 3 North campaign with challenging prospect of a visit to Billingham, the current Durham county cup holders and despite scoring four tries away from home they went down 41-24.
A windless overcast afternoon and a good pitch offered ideal conditions.
At the first scrum Lymm drove forward and No. 8 Adam Bray carried the ball deep into Billingham territory leading to a penalty goal opportunity and a rare failure by Cormac Nolan. The pace was fast and furious and the Billingham full back gave early notice of his willingness to run the ball from deep at every opportunity, exhibiting both pace and vision.
Billingham declined an early chance to take the lead from a kickable penalty and showed their ambitions by opting for a line out in the corner. This led to a scrum and then a quickly taken penalty resulting in a try under the posts (7-0). The home team soon added another converted try (14-0) when their full back joined their attacking line and accelerated through a gap in the Lymm defence.
Lymm responded quickly by showing that they also had the ability to play with flare, speed and vision. George Boaden, on his league debut, was combining well with fly half Joe Knowles who was using his experience and skill to initiate some good attacking moves. The reward was a try for winger Richard McAvoy following some excellent handling embellished by full back Andy Rowley creating the overlap. Nolan converted from wide out with his usual assurance. (14 – 7)
This boost to Lymm’s confidence saw them now dominating possession and territory. A penalty to the corner, but a scrappy line-out led to a 5 metre scrum at which the Lymm pack caused Billingham to lose control of the ball .It went loose and Tom Baker, filling in at centre, showed the alertness and instincts required of his usual scrum half position and got the try. Again Nolan added the conversion and brought the score level (14-14).Then as half time approached Lymm conceded their hard won parity by kicking away possession and conceding a penalty (17-14).
Billingham increased their lead early in the second half capitalizing on Lymm’s mistakes which gave away possession. Again it was their man of the match full back who when finally tackled after carving through Lymm’s defence skilfully off loaded to a support player to score under the posts (24-14).
Once again Lymm made a spirited reply by continuing to attack but were sometimes guilty of being too adventurous and some scoring opportunities were squandered. Reward finally came when good lineout possession and excellent handling brought a second try for McAvoy in at the corner (24-19).
Then for the second time in the game Lymm levelled the scores when both backs and forwards combined well to get the ball wide to McAvoy’s wing where, supporting on the inside, lock forward Sion Williams earned a well-deserved try. (24-24). Now, with the game evenly balanced, Lymm should have adopted a more patient and clinical approach but instead they let Billingham back into the game. Once more their full back judged an excellent entry into their attacking line to set up another try (31-24) soon to be followed by a penalty which consolidated Billingham’s lead.( 34 – 24 ).In response Lymm launched numerous attacks but their over eager attempts to reduce the deficit resulted in risky passes and frustrating errors.
With the final whistle due Billingham enhanced their victory with a converted try (41-24). Undoubtedly on the day the best team won but Lymm contributed much to an entertaining game and thoroughly deserved their 4 try bonus points.
Lymm have a home game on Saturday, 13 September, playing Beverley who lost at home, 15 – 44 to Morley.
Team: 1) Alex Reay; 2) Dan Horton; 3) Nick Ashton; 4) Sion Williams (C); 5) Tom Darbyshire; 6) Sam Mullarkey; 7) Jake Ashall; 8) Adam Bray; 9) George Boaden; 10) Joe Knowles; 11) Steve McAvoy; 12) Tom Bray; 13) Tom Baker; 14) Cormac Nolan; 15) Andy Rowley; 16) Joe Cooper; 17) Alex Kaihau; 18) Mark Wells
