Heavy defeat for Lymm

LYMM RUFC went down to a heavy defeat at Bradford & Bingley losing out 47-9 at Wagon Lane.
The last two away fixtures against Bradford & Bingley, have been high scoring games, with Lymm taking the league points in both encounters.
On Saturday at Wagon Lane, it was again a high scoring game, but sadly for Lymm it was Bradford & Bingley scoring all the points.
They opened the scoring after 2 minutes, when their powerful centre, Richard Tafa shook of a number of attempted tackles to go in under the posts, scrum half Richard Scull converting (7-0).
The Lymm team was again much changed due to injury and unavailability. Henry Bellis came in at centre, only to retire injured after 7 minutes. Richard McAvoy returned at left wing and Gaz Davies at scrum half in place of injured Tom Baker. Captain, Ollie Higginson remained at No8 in place of unavailable Adam Bray and John Brotherton returned at prop. Of a wider rugby interest, former Wigan Warriors , Bradford Bulls and Gloucester player Henry Paul is a player coach at Bradford & Bingley and he came on for a 10 minute rolling replacement spell in the first half.
With the early loss of Henry Bellis, Sam Mullarkey moved to centre, Sion Williams to flanker and Tom Darbyshire to second row. This disruption didn’t help matters, as the home team put the Lymm defence under constant pressure, retaining possession and recycling the ball skilfully. But Lymm defended well and penalties were exchanged after 22 and 34 minutes (10-3). Eventually, after 37 minutes, the Lymm defence was broken; centre Tafa breaking through some weak tackling before slipping the ball to flanker Martyn Mitchell who touched down with Scull converting (17-3). In the last minutes of an extended half, Lymm forwards put together some good drives, retaining possession well and they were rewarded by another well struck penalty from Cormack Nolan (17-6). Former colt Cormack had retained the No 10 shirt from the previous week and with the little possession that Lymm had, he played with confidence and is a promising prospect for the club.
Within five minutes of the restart, the home side increased their lead with a penalty goal and drop goal (23-6). With minimal possession, Lymm had few chances to put together any attacking moves. Sam Mullarkey and Cormack Nolan made telling breaks down the middle: Tim Oakes carried the ball well making good yards as the Lymm pack drove him up to the home 22. But these were rare instances and stray passes or being caught isolated were capitalised on by B&B. After 13 minutes of the half a promising Lymm attack down the left was spoiled by a dropped ball, B&B wingman Tom Kanouros hacking the ball on, collecting and scoring a converted try under the posts. This followed a final Lymm penalty goal from Nolan (30-9).
After 20 minutes of the half, Lymm were reduced to 14 men following a dangerous, no arms body check on ball carrier Tim Oakes. The referee was being assessed and harshly adjudged the retaliation worthy of a red card. B&B converted the resulting penalty (33-9). The lighter Lymm pack was now under severe pressure and Captain Ollie Higginson was outstanding in leading a desperate defence, against a side with their tails up. In the final 10 minutes the home side scored two more converted tries by Tafa and captain Guy Ford, Scull converting both, taking the final score to 47-9, Lymm’s heaviest defeat of the season. They have now dropped two places to 9th in the league, B&B moving up to 8th place. This is a young side with lots of potential and whilst Lymm were certainly second best on the day, they will use the two week break from rugby to regroup, rest their injuries and hopefully be back to full strength, ready for their next game, at home to Penrith on November 17th, KO 2.15pm.

Team: – 15) David Williamson; 14) Joe Nattrass; 13) Matt Delaney; 12) Henry Bellis; 11) Richard McAvoy; 10) Cormack Nolan; 9) Gaz Davies; 8) Ollie Higginson (Captain); 7) Sam Mullarkey; 6) Tim Oakes; 5) Sion Williams; 4) Oliver Giles; 3) Nick Ashton; 2) Peter Allen; 1) Jon Brotherton.
Rolling Replacements: Tom Darbyshire, Jordan Widdrington, Chris Kinsey