Report by Mal Pritchard
Lymm travelled up to play Morpeth in the North East where conditions were better than expected but came away with a disappointing 19-8 defeat.
The sky was blue, the pitch, although soft, was certainly playable and in good order. Lymm welcomed back Andy Davies at scrum-half following a long injury lay-off and made some significant positional changes from the initial selection. Oli Higginson went into the centre, with Joe Watson moving to no 8; Tom Shard moved to Full Back and Scot Redfern to No 10. It was also pleasing to welcome back Ally Sutherland onto the bench, returning after a long injury lay-off.
Lymm kicked off with the strong breeze behind them and immediately put Morpeth under pressure. They went through the phases but determined defence and poor Lymm execution kept the game scoreless. After a midfield break Lymm threatened the line which resulted in Morpeth conceding a penalty 5 metres out. The offender being shown the yellow card. Lymm opted for a line out but their attempt to drive over was repelled. At a subsequent 5 metre scrum Joe Watson dived for the line only to be denied by a foot in touch as he put the ball down Most of the play was in the Morpeth half but Lymm struggled to create opportunities. Then a break from Nathan Beesley ended with a scrum centre field, twenty metres out. At last good handling resulted in an overlap for Nathan Beesley to score in the corner for an unconverted try, 0-5.
On 38 minutes, Lymm had another opportunity to score but Cormac Nolan’s penalty hit the post. The talk in the crowd was whether 5 points was enough to defend against the elements.
HT 0 – 5
A good start was essential, however a Lymm error resulted in a Morpeth line-out about 25 metres out. After a few phases, the Morpeth wing forward broke through two tackles to score a converted try, 7-5. Lymm responded well and after good pressure Morpeth concede a penalty 30 metres out, which Nolan converted, 7-8. Lymm continued to make mistakes and the strong running Morpeth forwards were beginning to get a foothold on the game. From another 25m line-out, Morpeth gained some forward momentum in the loose and a strong carry and a missed tackle allowed them to score an unconverted try, 12-8.
Lymm were trying to play rugby in the wrong part of the pitch but couldn’t make much headway as determined defence and handling errors thwarted their progress. Morpeth put the game out of Lymm’s reach when a chip over the Lymm defence was reclaimed by the centre who put his teammate in for a converted try, 19-8. This left Lymm with 12 minutes to salvage the game. To their credit they had a last go at gaining a bonus point but after intense pressure on the Morpeth line they couldn’t get the score they required and a handling error put paid to the effort. Morpeth saw the game out for a deserved win.
FT 19-8
Lymm put a considerable amount of effort into the game but poor execution meant they didn’t take the opportunities they had in the first half. They came up against a Morpeth side fighting for their league lives, who on the day just had the edge and took their chances. Sadly Andy Davies had to leave the field on 45 minutes with a bang on his shoulder, let’s hope it’s not serious and he can make a good recovery. Next Saturday Lymm are at home to Ilkley, KO 3pm
“Ultimately we got what we deserved”. Commented Head Coach, Adam Fletcher.
“It was a really disappointing performance especially after how well we had performed in our last couple of games.
“It’s a long way to travel but I thought we actually started really well. Unfortunately we couldn’t convert pressure into points. In the second half we were really poor in attack and defence.
“Onwards to next week with the focus on getting a win at home to Ilkley.
“The boys are hurting and all agreed that their performance wasn’t good enough. They are keen to put it right on Tuesday and Thursday next week”.
Squad: 1. Jordan Widdrington, 2. Adam Bray (C), 3. Matty Hand, 4. Aaron Rasheed, 5. James Yates, 6. James Hadland, 7. Campbell Thompson, 8. Joe Watson, 9. Andy Davies, 10. Scott Redfern, 11. Cormac Nolan, 12. Steve Pilkington, 13. Oli Higginson, 14. Nathan Beesley, 15. Tom Shard, 16. Gavin Woods, 17. Matty Connelly, 18. Ally Sutherland
