Lymm 43 – 6 Burnage Report by Simon Plumb
WITH the wind in their faces, Lymm took on an already relegated Burnage side which was a shadow of the team they played previous seasons as they ran out 43-6 winners to move back up to third in the table.
Losing five key players due to retirement and not having the resources to replenish and play competitively in this tough league, is a lesson all teams at this level need to take heed of.
This is not the case with Lymm, as the Colts Academy continues to supply a steady conveyor belt of playing talent. However, it was also great to see the old war horse and former skipper Sion Williams back in harness at lock.
There was rain, hail and a bitter wind but it did not inhibit Lymm’s usual fast start. Two attacking line-outs in the Burnage 22 and early dominance, facilitated constant pressure and rapid ball movement for centre Richard Halford to cross after ten minutes, duly converted by scrum half Tom Shard.
7-0.
A 20m rolling maul from the visitors showed how they were going to structure their main attacks and were rewarded with a penalty after 20minutes. 7-3. The spectators behind the sticks were a little dubious it hit the target as the wind blew the ball to the right, however, we trust our touch judge to get it right.
Opportunistic fly half Tom Bray then blocked a kick through by his opposite number, and picked up to sprint 35m to score to the left of the posts, well converted wide out by Shard. 14-3 after 25minutes.
As Burnage tried to respond Lymm’s defence, as so often this season, snuffed out all and any threats. However, with 5 minutes of the half to go, determined forward attacks led to flanker Aaron Rasheed taking a yellow card for the team, as the ref ran out of patience for repeated offences. The half time score ended at 17-6, with work still to do from the hosts.
Now the gloves were off and an early attack, going through several pairs of hands, saw prop Jordan Widdrington, out on the wing, lose the ball over the line, then doing a passable impression of Irish centre Henshaw, against England, in his misery. Centre Callum Harris, growing in influence as the season has progressed, then charged down another kick for Shard to feed No 8 Adam Bray, who crashed over forcibly near the posts, duly converted by Shard after 45 minutes. 24-6 and Lymm were more or less out of sight.
When Burnage decided to kick, which was not often, they rarely benefited. A drop out on their own 22 was eventually fielded by the returning Rasheed who had the pace to beat the cover and score in the left hand corner for an unconverted bonus try. 31-6 after 50 minutes.
With 10 minutes remaining Mark Dixon was moved from full back to fly half and showed his real class in this position. His beautifully weighted kick to the left hand corner, gave wing Cormac Nolan his chance to touch down, taking the score to 36-6.
Lymm’s tails were now well and truly up, with Dixon clearly wanting to show what he could do. Lymm were now running the ball at every opportunity and a well worked move to the left, involving Dixon, to Tom Bray, to Nolan, then back inside to Dixon allowed him score near the posts for a flamboyant end to an entertaining game, if you were not from Burnage that is. The final score was 43-6 as Nolan converted.
Skipper Adam Bray was pleased but had a word of caution. ‘We left points out there and need to execute better. It was a decent job today but there is real pride in this team with a collective belief that they can achieve even more.’
With a tough fixture away at Hull next week they will need to if they are to hold on to third spot, Lymm’s highest ever position in this league. Not bad for a strictly amateur, and young, team!
Team: 1) Jordan Widdrington, 2) Ross White, 3) Dan Horton, 4) Will Baldwin, 5) Sion Williams, 6) Aaron Rasheed, 7) Jack Harper, 8) Adam Bray (C), 9) Tom Shard, 10) Tom Bray, 11) Cormac Nolan, 12) Richard Halford, 13) Callum Harris, 14) Chris Owen, 15) Mark Dixon, 16) Mike Auden, 17) Rob Makin, 18) Tom Baker
