Lymm’s Darbyshire on the charge
LYMM moved up to fifth in National League three North as they secured their third win on the bounce with a 25-14 victory over West Hartlepool.
The game was preceded by a minute’s silence for Charlotte Millachip who died suddenly in the week, putting the match itself somewhat into perspective.
In terms of the game, all the forum sites had the match as a nailed on bonus point win for Lymm. West Hartlepool were rumored to be in a spot of turmoil with players leaving to join nearby clubs, a familiar problem for Lymm in recent seasons, so little sympathy there.
In contrast Lymm were virtually at full strength and coach Kinsey even promoted himself to the bench following what must have been an impressive performance for the fourth team the previous Saturday, or was he just desperate to get out of the house following the birth of his third child in the week? Given all this what could possibly go wrong……!
The first five minutes saw two scrums with Lymm going backwards and upwards at a rate of knots. Two penalties to West Hartlepool, whose number 10 Waites managed to kick one to put the visitors three nil up, oh dear. This was followed by the assault of Lymm’s captain Higginson by a cynical punch from the West Hartlepool second row (missed by the referee), which meant he had to leave the field.
The West Hartlepool game plan was seemingly established – scrummage and punch. Lymm teams of old might have folded but this pack led by the indomitable Oakes and the cussed Brotherton are made of sterner stuff. Lymm slowly grew into the game and led by the charging runs of Adam Bray began to get on top. Further penalties were exchanged to make it 6-3 to West Hartlepool, but it was only individual mistakes (dropping the ball with the line beckoning) that prevented Lymm from putting more points on the board.
On 25 minutes Lymm finally got the breakthrough, Luke Emmitt received the ball on the edge of the 22 and barged, pushed and bullied his way over the line for a great try. Editors note – see what happens when you keep the ball and don’t kick it away. Lymm continued to dominate by keeping the ball in hand and driving at the West Hartlepool defence. On 35 minutes the coaches substitution policy paid off as Tom Baker had to leave the field injured to be replaced by Chris Kinsey. The half ended with Lymm trying to play rugby and West Hartlepool continuing to niggle. With virtually the last play of the game Lymm ran back a poor West Hartlepool kick and put the ball through hands quickly for Cormack Nolan to score, Nolan converted the try to make it 18-6 at the break.
The second half got of to a slow start with Lymm guilty of kicking the ball away poorly and getting drawn into a forward battle.
Given West Hartlepool’s limited game plan Lymm were never in danger of losing and this seemed to translate to the players who struggled to find the extra gear to take the game away. West Hartlepool brought it back to 18-9 with a penalty and this seemed to spark a bit more urgency into the Lymm game.
Lymm now had all the territory and by playing phases kept pressure on the West Hartlepool line. They were finally rewarded with Brotherton twisting and turning over the line from short range, to cap another excellent performance. Nolan slotted the extras to make it 25-9 and with 15-minutes to go the crowd waited for the bonus point try. Lymm however continued to make hard work of it and didn’t get close to the fourth try. Indeed the game ended with West Hartlepool camped on the Lymm line and the stand-off, Waites scoring an excellent individual try to make the final score 25-14.
In the final analysis Lymm were clear winners against a limited West Hartlepool team but they perhaps didn’t do enough on the day to deserve the bonus point.
Try scorer Luke Emmitt
Lymm:Nolan, McEvoy, Knowles, Delaney, Natrass, Emmitt, Baker, Brotherton, Allen, Ashton, Giles, Darbyshire, Higginson, Oakes, Bray, Widdrington, Isherwood, Kinsey.
