Lymm hold on to take the points in close encounter

Report by David Fernyhough

On arriving at sunny Beechwood to find two former Hull FC players on the opposition team sheet and the owner of a Super League side in the crowd, one would have been forgiven for thinking this was a rugby league match.

However, the way the game developed was very much Union, as the set piece became key. The intensity of the contest resulted in numerous penalties, with Lymm’s line-out being pitted against Hull’s scrum.

There were a number of changes to the Lymm squad. James Pitcher started at hooker with Rob Makin moving to the bench. Ben Thompson was unavailable with Rhys Lilly moving to the 2nd row and Cashel Chilvers starting at Blindside. Jake Ashall came onto the bench and Rhys Lilly and Harry Martin were both making their 50th appearances for the 1stXV.

Lymm opened the scoring early. Hull attempted to play their way out of their own 10metres following a Lymm knock on. The ball was passed across their line but Nathan Beesley intercepted the pass to the winger and scored. Tom Shard converted, (7 – 0).

Hull were next to score, benefitting from the majority of possession and territory. Scrum-half Naylor made a fine break from the back of a scrum before the ball was moved wide for a patiently worked try out wide by 2nd Row, Alec Renouf, converted by Full Back, Reece Dean, after 11mins play, (7 – 7). Hull were dominant in the first 15 minutes, and after missing a penalty kick Dean added to the score with another one from almost the same spot after 16 mins. (7 – 10).

Lymm responded well and began to play the rugby we associate with them. With this they gained more of a hold on the game and Shard soon tied the game at 10 each with a penalty in front of the posts. Soon after another Shard penalty took the score to (13 – 10). Numerous penalties followed for Lymm and they made good use of their line out, with James Pitcher proving very accurate with his throwing. However, each attempt to score off the line out fell just short.
Eventually, after 32 minutes, Lymm were to score off a line out, ironically it was from a less well executed effort, the throw clearing the whole line, but Rhys Lilley was alert and secured the ball before stretching out to dab the ball over the line. Shard converted a difficult effort, (20 – 10).
A 50/22 kick by Hull gave them a good attacking position on the brink of half time but resolute Lymm defending kept them at bay.

HALF TIME. 20 – 10
Lymm began the second half similar to how they ended the first. Matty Hand and James Kimber tackled ferociously but Cash Chilvers sustained a bad leg injury and had to leave the field. Jake Ashall took his place at Blindside. Hull were reduced to 14 men as a yellow card was later given for repeated infringement at the maul.
Lymm’s disciplined maul and ball retention after a line out was seeing them make good yardage, and this was to be the basis for the next score. A penalty on halfway was kicked to within 10 metres of the Hull line. The attendant maul drew in Hull’s defence and the ball was then moved wide to Jack Reynolds who cut back inside to take the score to 25 – 10. The penalties were racking up, and Lymm gained another 3 points from Shard after 61 mins, following a high tackle. (28 – 10)
Despite the number of penalties, including high tackles, the referee was gaining plaudits from the crowd for not brandishing cards at any opportunity. As we entered the final quarter, Hull found the form they had begun with. Number 8 Paulos Latu and his colleague, former Parramatta Eel, Bureta Faraimo both blew holes in Lymm’s defence, which was finally showing slights signs of tiring. One such Faraimo drive led to him scoring a converted try with 66mins on the clock, (28 – 17).
Hull were now benefitting from penalties and posed a real threat anytime they entered the home sides 22. Taking full advantage of a high tackle by Lymm they disjointed the defence and found Centre, Peter Hudson Kowalewicz who broke Lymm tackles and scored out on the left, the conversion was missed. (28 – 22). The final minutes were very tense, with Hull continuing to earn penalties, and turning to their scrum as a base from which to launch attacks. However the Lymm scrum was performing admirably as it had all game, with Woods, Widdrington, and Hands an influence throughout the game.
Hulls final chance to grasp victory came as Lymm were yellow carded for a high tackle on their 22. Hull tapped and went but a loose ball was dived on by the relentless Oli Higginson. Hull’s frustration boiled over and they saw a player sin-binned for dissent, and Lymm held firm for an important 4 league points victory.

FULL TIME: 28 – 10
Lymm DoR Adam Fletcher commented after the game. “What a great performance from the lads. I thought we were in control for most of the game. We dealt with Hull’s powerful runners and offloading game well.
“The coaching team are extremely proud of the performance today, we asked for a huge effort and that’s what we got. Hull are an excellent team with power and flair so to restrict them to 3 tries was pleasing.
“We feel that this level is where we belong but so do all the other teams, so we just have to keep working hard for each other to make sure we stay in the league.”
Although winning on Saturday, Lymm drop down to 11th in the 14 team league, because Preston Grasshoppers had a 5 point win over Huddersfield and have 4 more bonus points than Lymm.
Lymm have 5 more league games, 3 away and 2 at home, the toughest one is away against undefeated league leaders Leeds Tykes next Saturday, 16th March.

Squad: 1) Gav Woods (127); 2) James Pitcher (62)*; 3) Matty Hand (102)*; 4) James Yates (C) (117)*; 5) Rhys Lilly (50)*; 6) Cash Chilvers (22); 7) Harry Martin (50); 8) Oli Higginson (258)*; 9) Callum Morris (33); 10) Tom Shard (131)*; 11) Paddy Jennings (47)*; 12) James Kimber (106)*; 13) Steve Pilkington (62)*; 14) Nathan Beesley (VC) (65)*; 15) Jack Reynolds (18). Bench – 16) Rob Makin (59)*; 17) Jordan Widdrington (239)*; 18) Jake Ashall (140)*; 19) Andy Williams (18)*; 20) Andy Rowley* (71).

( ) = number of Lymm First XV League appearances
* Former Lymm Academy/M&J player 15 from 20 in this squad.