LYMM Rugby Union Club maintained their outrageous run of 19 wins out of 20 in all competitions with a hard fought win at Moss Lane to open the new season.
League debuts were handed to Joe Knowles and Lee Pickles while Sion Williams returned after a season in the national leagues.
Alex Gluth, signed from Gordon in Sydney, was still nursing injury and was unavailable. Skipper Adam Fletcher was a welcome sight returning to league action for the first time since February.
LSH have a strong record at home and Lymm were stunned into action, after a high scoring pre season, in the first 5 mins when the home team powered forward time and time again. The visitors failed to generate any possession and the little opportunity they had they squandered with knock ons or drops. It was no great surprise when Cunliffe went over on 6 minutes after a drop in midfield and interception top open the scoring at 5-0.
Lymm had the chance to score on 11 mins but the normally metronomic Swetman, surely under pressure from Knowles, missed the penalty. Indeed kicking accuracy was at a premium with both kickers missing chances.
Lymm’s defence held firm but missed tackles on 28 allowed Mcgeogh over making it 10-0.
Lymm were unable to secure possession and it took extravagant skill from Knowles, plucking the ball off the floor to allow Swetman to feed the impressive Ollie Higginson to side step the opposing 15 to score on 38 mins making it 10-5 at the break.
Swetman looked more composed in the second half and was able to notch his first points of the season on 44 mins with a penalty closing the gap to 10-8 but Lymm still failed to exploit their obvious pace and flair, too often losing possession at the line out or handling errors in midfield.
LSH went further ahead on 58 with a push over and pick at the scrum and conversion making it 17-8.
Immediately on the restart Lymm had another penalty and Swetman delivered to close the gap to six points
As LSH tired it seemed Lymm’s superior fitness could deliver an unwarranted win and indeed, on 62 mins Chris Griffiths went blind, dummied the winger and outsprinted the LSH fullback for a 50 metre try. Swetman, sweetly, converted to take the win at 17-18.
Captain Fletcher described the game as “scrappy but a great 2 points” and match winner Swetman said “we didn’t panic and defended well…it’s a hard place to go to and win”.
Coach Kinsey rued “too many unforced errors that prevented an effective game plan but we showed how dangerous we were from various places on the pitch and also that we can limit big powerful packs”.
Lymm travel to Wilmslow on Saturday.
Lymm. 15 D Williamson, 14 J Johnstone , 13 Knowles ,12 Fletcher (C) ,11 Butler ,10 Swetman ,9 Griffiths 1 ,Brown ,2 Harrison ,3 Warrington ,4 Miksys ,5 Calderbank (Pickles 60) ,6 Williams ,7 Higginson ,8 Sutton. Reps Broadbent, Pickles, Ashall
Rochdale 2s 5 V Lymm 2s 14
Lymm’s second string recorded an impressive win at Rochdale. Luke Emmitt notching 3 penalties and Matthew Barnes Smith scoring a try. Even with a strong team with several 1st teamers Lymm had to battle for the points against a team with, themselves, a healthy contingent of 1s.
Similar to the 1st team Andy Norcott’s team have won 12 out of 13 games in the league and have aspirations this year.
Andy was happy that they made a “positive start to the season ,showing promise in most areas…some work still needs to be done before the performance can be described as polished.”
Richard Boundy, Director of Rugby, added: “It’s important to have a strong 2s. Success at first team level this season will need 35-40 players not just 15.Andy has done a great job forging a real team spirit and the lads are up for a successful season. It’s a great environment for lads like Luke Emmitt and Marcus Knox to be blooded into adult rugby.”
Lymm 2’s 15 Barnes Smith 14 Norman 13 Emmitt 12 Roberts 11 Johnston 10 Roberts 9 Baker 1 Grant 2 Girdlestone 3 Bates 4 Cartwright 5 Mcpartland 6 Howson 7 Gillespie 8 Knox. Reps Norcott (C), Field, Lythgoe
