by Andy Leach
LYMM went top of the table following a solid 36-18 victory over Rossendale at Beechwood.
Conditions were poles apart from last week’s trip to Cleckheaton.The gentle breeze, warm September sun and outstanding pitch promised an entertaining match for Lymm’s first home match of their 7th season at National 3 Level.
Visitors Rossendale, who have enjoyed an even longer stint in this competitive league, brought with them an experienced team determined to reverse last season’s heavy defeat in this fixture.
Lymm made a few changes from last week’s victorious squad. Wealthall’s injury brought Knowles into the starting line-up in the less familiar position of centre, with the returning Nolan taking his place on the bench; Ashall too was promoted from the bench due to Mullarkey’s unavailability; a fit again Baldwin joined fellow 19-year old McGrail in the second row with Watson moving to the bench; Coach Fletcher elected to go with Baker at scrum-half; and front-row rotation gave Widdrington the start, with Auden on the bench.
Exchanges in the first 10 minutes were pretty even with Rossendale probably shading both possession and field-position, however, as last week, Lymm’s defensive strength was evident throughout these early moments often forcing Rossendale mistakes. After 12 minutes, on their first foray into the ‘Dale 22, Lymm were awarded a penalty 17m out for offside, which McEvoy duly converted. 3-0
From the restart Lymm showed purposeful strong running with outstanding skipper Adam Bray usually in the thick of it. This pressure caused ‘Dale to offend again on 18 minutes, this time Lymm elected to kick to the corner. From the resultant line out a strong burst by Kimber and quick recycling allowed Baker to feed a short ball to Adam Bray who went over under the posts. McEvoy duly converting. 10-0
Rossendale opened their account on 22 minutes with a simple penalty from 25m. 10-3, then 11 minutes later, Lymm extended their lead. On the back-foot, in their own 22, Lymm’s strong defence dislodged the ball which full-back Denman collected. His long clearing kick was fielded by the Rossendale full-back who elected to chip the on-rushing Denman, poorly executed this allowed the tall Denman to gather the ball, feed captain Bray who released speedster McEvoy for a 40m sprint to the line, then adding the extras. 17-3
In the remaining minutes of the half, the Rossendale 13, Hurst, received a yellow card and just before the whistle, the gap was reduced by a long-range Rossendale penalty.17-6
On 42 minutes, Rossendale’s chances of reeling in Lymm suffered a heavy blow when their second row, Tomlinson, was shown a red card for punching. Shortly afterwards Adam Bray turned-over Rossendale’s ball on their own 22 and powered down the right flank, expertly drawing the last defender before releasing the supporting White to score. McEvoy failed with the wide-out conversion. 22-6
Despite being a man down, Rossendale were still competing fiercely, determined not to capitulate and it took Lymm until the 65th minute to score their fourth, bonus-point, try. A strong elusive run down the left flank by Nolan was the catalyst. Despite the Lymm man being taken out cynically after passing the ball, excellent support, recycling, and handling led to Kimber crossing in the right-hand corner, which McEvoy expertly converted. 29-6
On 68 minutes Rossendale finally crossed the Lymm line, but failed with the conversion. 29-11. Lymm completed their scoring on 75 minutes with a converted try when Adam Bray, the stand-out player on the pitch, scored his second of the match – this time collecting a neat inside pass from fellow back-rower Higginson off the base of an attacking 5metre scrum. 36-11
Rossendale then scored the final points with a converted try off, pretty much, the final play of the match.
The thoughts of Coach Fletcher after the match demonstrated how Lymm has matured over the past 7 seasons. “In the past we would have been slapping ourselves on the back for this victory. But we need to be more consistent and more ruthless. We had a man advantage for over 40 minutes today and didn’t really take advantage. There are still too many mistakes – we left a hatful of points on the pitch today.”
Next week Lymm travel to Yorkshire to play Sandal.
Team:
1) Dan Horton, 2) Ross White, 3) Jordan Widdrington, 4), Joe McGrail 5) Wil Baldwin, 6), Jake Ashall, 7) Adam Bray (C), 8) Ollie Higginson, 9) Tom Baker, 10) Tom Bray, 11) Richard McEvoy, 12) James Kimber, 13) Joe Knowles, 14) Chris Owens, 15) Joe Denman, 16) Mike Auden, 17) Joe Watson, 18) Cormac Nolan
