Rossendale 50 – Lymm 26 by Simon Plumb
LYMM travelled to Rossendale on Saturday with high expectations following a good victory the previous week, which was based on a strong defensive performance and their hard work without the ball.
Meetings between these two well matched teams are normally closely contested affairs and with a strong Lymm team on show this promised to be no different. Shard returned at scrum-half as the only change.
Lymm kicked off with the slope and breeze in their favour and all was set for a close encounter.
The early exchanges saw the pattern of the game set; with Rossendale using the hard running back-row duo of Collins and Mckibbin to look for holes in the Lymm defence and Lymm utilising the back-line to search for a way through Rossendale.
Lymm drew first blood when good hands through the backs found Giles Dugdale in space to go over under the posts. Lymm were looking confident at this point and were probing well. Perhaps a little too confident as it turned out, with a backs move intercepted (not for the first time this season), to enable Rossendale to canter over from the half-way line. A penalty followed and after 15 minutes Rossendale were 10-7 to the good.
At this point Rossendale began to gain the upper hand in terms of possession and it was taking two or three Lymm tacklers to hold the Rossendale surges. Only Rossendale mistakes, particularly from close in line-outs and last ditch Lymm defending was preventing Rossendale from adding to the score. Just before the half hour one such desperate last ditch tackle from Joe Knowles saw him harshly yellow carded for not rolling away. The line out was again butchered by Rossendale but they were now clearly in the ascendancy and the pressure finally told with the home team creating an overlap to score. Steve Nutt who kicked well all day for the opposition added the conversion to take the score to 17-7.
Things were beginning to look ominous for Lymm but against the run of play a great break from Tom Bray, who looked dangerous all day, was fed to Oli Lancaster to score under the posts to take the half-time score to 17-14 and make the game still very much alive.
The local view at half-time was that the slope was worth 10-points to Rossendale, how Lymm would have settled for that! Any prospect of a close contest evaporated in the first ten-minutes of the re-start. For all their profligacy in the first half, Rossendale were ruthless in the second.
Mike Auden came on at half-time and was almost immediately yellow carded for dragging down a maul. Collins for Rosendale went over from the subsequent penalty. It was then Mckibbins turn as he ran the virtual ‘width’ of the 25-metre area without any Lymm player laying a hand on him, eventually going over to score. On the 10-minute mark worse followed when Joe Knowles picked up a second yellow card for a high tackle and thus saw red. To add insult to injury from the ensuing penalty Rossendale played a neat cross kick to score. 36-14 to Rossendale, Lymm were shell shocked.
To their credit Lymm came back and started to throw the ball about with Zak Lyhtgoe and Tom Bray prominent. The remainder of the game was played out with both sides taking it in turns to score, with the industrious Ross White and Rick Halford crossing for Lymm to at least secure a bonus point.
Despite the nightmare score there were positives, the set piece worked well, particularly Kaihau in the line-out and as always Lymm looked good with ball in hand but today Lymm were poor without the ball, losing the physical battle and being unable to cope with the power of the Rossendale back-row.
Coach Fletcher was un-available for comment but the long post match analysis on the pitch afterwards told the story. Next up for Lymm is Waterloo at home, who recorded a surprise victory over run-away league leaders Sheffield Tigers.
Lymm will have little or no chance to lick their wounds in what is beginning to look a very difficult season…..
Team
Widdrington, Horton, Ashton, Lythgoe, Kaihau, White, Ashall, Bray, Shard, Lancaster, Wells, Bray, Dugdale, McEvoy, Knowles, Auden, Rasheed, Halford.
