No fun in the Park for Lymm!

LYMM Rugby Union suffered a second heavy defeat in the league against a team they had beaten in the Cheshire Cup only two weeks ago as they went down 46-19 at Birkenhead Park.
Birkenhead went into the game full of confidence after a good away win at Morley the previous week, whilst Lymm appeared under the weather following their home defeat against Bradford & Bingley.
Tom Baker replaced Kinsey at 9 and Pete Allen returned at hooker, but it was very flat, lacklustre performance from Lymm. Birkenhead Park appeared fitter, stronger, more experienced and more determined to win in every department. However, any team in this league that is given a 24 point lead in the first 25 minutes of a game can be made to look good. To be fair, Birkenhead Park were very clinical in the way they capitalised on the mistakes that Lymm made and unfortunately there were far too many of them, especially in the first half.
The first five minutes of the game were dominated by Lymm, but an attempt to force a pass and a missed tackle in mid-field allowed Ibbotson, Birkenhead Park’s No. 8, to romp over under the posts for a try that was converted by winger, Danny Rich making it 7-0 to the home side.
Lymm welcomed back Cheshire winger David Williamson, but his rustiness after a three month working break in France was shown when after the first of several promising runs a loose pass was intercepted by Freeman Payne, BP’s and Lancashire’s centre, who ran 40 metres to go under Lymm’s post after only 16 minutes to make it 14-0.
Lymm conceded far too many penalties throughout the game, often when they appeared to be just about to break through Birkenhead Park’s defence. On 23 minutes a penalty conceded at a scrum allowed Rich to extend Birkenhead Park’s lead with an excellent kick from the 10 metre line to make it 17-0.
The danger of Lymm’s tendancy to kick away good possession was highlighted on 25 minutes when a chip-over in mid-field led to yet another give-away try to Birkenhead Park. Good inter-passing and support play was required to finish off the move, but Birkenhead Park did not have to work too hard to go into a 24-0 lead on 25 minutes. Essentially, the game was over at this point.
On 34 minutes Lymm did manage to score a try. England legend Alex Bennett touched down in the corner, following an excellently executed driving maul – the type of score that has become the trademark score of Birkenhead Park. Joe Knowles converted from the touchline to make the score 24-7.
Ill-discipline by Lymm allowed Birkenhead Park to extend their first-half lead, when chatting back to the referee resulted in them being marched back 10 metres from the half-way line and another excellent kick from Rich closed out the half at 27-7.
Lymm started the second half on the front foot, but offside at a ruck led to a penalty to Birkenhead Park. The kick to the corner and retention of possession at the line-out led to a stereotypical push-over try to make it 32-7.
On 62 minutes Birkenhead Park’s backs took full advantage of a fumbled pass and knock-forward in midfield by Lymm to counter-attack and score a really good try under the posts, converted to make it 39-7.
This was the story of the game until the final 18 minutes of the second half when Lymm showed their attacking potential by scoring two excellent tries, both set up by captain Joe Knowles and finished off by winger Barnes-Smith. Knowles converted one of the tries from the touch line. In between it was good to see Lymm give Piers Crozier, another promising young player his League debut. He replaced Bruce McNicol who had played with spirit, often putting BP under pressure from the many restarts with some bone-crunching tackles.
Lymm’s point tally of 19 points was achieved despite the yellow card given to Alex Bennett on 73 minutes for persistent offside infringement. His departure from the field was shortly followed by a penalty kick to the corner and trademark drive-over try by Birkenhead Park. The final score of 46-19 flattered Birkenhead Park a little bit, but Lymm have much work to do to prepare for next week’s crucial match against arch-rivals and newly promoted Altrincham Kersal. A home win is needed to restore faith and much needed confidence. Altrincham Kersal scraped home this week with a win against Morley, a side well beaten by Birkenhead Park last week. What a game is in store !!

Team: 15 Knowles 14 McEvoy 13 Bray (T) 12 Ferguson 11 Williamson 10 Roberts 9 Baker 8 Bray (A) 7 Ashall 6 Higginson 5 McNicholl 4 Bennett 3 Harrison 2 Allen 1 Ashton Replacements: Widdrington for Ashton (50); Barnes-Smith for McEvoy (56); Crozier for McNichol (67).