LYMM bowed out of the Cheshire cup at the semi-final stage as a mainly young squad went down 32-10 at Sale.
Lymm travelled with a young 22 man squad, which included a number of 2nd XV players making their 1st XV debuts, for this second clash with their hosts following their home league defeat in early October. They will return to Heywood Rd again for the return league fixture at the end of January. Lying 2nd in National 3 League North with a game in hand, Sale have recruited a talented squad of players and look likely to gain promotion to National League 2 North.
Liam McGovern gave Sale an early lead with a penalty but Lymm responded with a strong run from Cormac Nolan but he lost possession in the tackle and Sale kicked downfield to clear the danger. Lymm had the edge in the scrums and held their own in line-outs but lacked the patience of the hosts in building up attacking phases with good ball retention. This eventually resulted in the home side scoring their first try. After ten minutes Jonathan Keep found space down the left and a neat inside pass to Nick Flynn gave the prop a clear run to touch down, McGovern added the conversion (10-0).
Lymm responded well and put together some excellent attacking moves and a promising run by Giles Dugdale into Sale territory was only stopped just short of the line. Lymm eventually got points on the board when another promising attack on the home 22 was stopped by a deliberate knock-on, and Nolan kicked the penalty to reduce the hosts’ advantage (10-3). Knowles and Nolan always looked dangerous but Lymm started to give away penalties and McGovern added a second penalty to restore Sale’s ten point lead (13-3).
Following another good attack down the right, Lymm were rewarded with a lineout close to the home 5m line. A good catch and set looked promising as they moved forward, only to be penalised for a player joining the maul in front of the ball carrier. Possession and territory were quite evenly balanced. Lymm again broke from their own half down the right but were eventually turned over and Lawrence put in a fine clearance to take play from the Sale 22 deep into Lymm territory. A poor Lymm defensive lineout was capitalised on by Sale and slick handling between McGovern and Scott Briggs was finished off by McGovern for Sale’s second try (18-3).
There was quite a strong wind in the first half which was in Sale’s favour and Lymm hoped to contain their hosts until the second half. There was no further scoring until two minutes before half time, when from a scrum on the Lymm 10 metre line Adam Aigbokhae broke through the Lymm defence to score a fine individual try, McGovern added the extras for a 25-3 lead at half time.
The wind dropped in the second half and honours were pretty much even between the teams. Then with about 20 minutes left on the clock Sale secured their place in the final.
McGovern broke the deadlock with a fine break and support from Davenport put Chris Mayor over for a try, McGovern adding the conversion (32-3).
Five minutes later Lymm’s George Boaden touched down and Nolan added the conversion but multiple substitutions by both sides together with deteriorating weather conditions restricted further scoring in the match.
Lymm can take some heart from their performance with their young players manning up to the task against a well drilled side. They had as many try scoring opportunities as their hosts but lacked their clinical finishing touches.
On Saturday 27th December there is a Colts reunion match at Lymm KO 2.15pm. Lymm 1st XV are at home to Westoe on Saturday 3rd January
Lymm Squad: 1) Mike Auden; 2) Dan Horton; 3) Jordan Widdrington; 4) Tom Darbyshire; 5) Sion Williams (C); 6) Jake Ashall; 7) Keiron Williams; 8) Adam Bray; 9) Tom Baker; 10) Joe Knowles; 11) Jake Ecclestone; 12) Giles Dugdale; 13) James Boaden; 14) Richard Halford ; 15) Cormac Nolan; 16) Callum McGuiness; 17) Nick Ashton; 18) Aaron Rasheed; 19) George Boaden; 20) Sam Gough; 21) Adam Halford: 22) Rhys Jones
