Match report by Neil Allen
LYMM welcomed Redruth for their first ever visit to Beechwood, having battled the long journey from the frozen south west to the relatively mild north.
The first game of 2026 was tinged with sadness following the death of club stalwart and former Club President Alan Cummins, over the Christmas break. A minute’s applause preceded the start of the game, which was played in bright, wintry, but bitingly cold conditions.
Lymm had ended 2025 with 3 straight losses and a win was vital to steady the ship going into the second half of the season. The previous encounter in Cornwall, which Redruth pipped by 4 points and the current league’s positions suggested this would be a close affair, and so it turned out.
The Lymm squad showed various changes from the last team sheet of 2025. The most notable saw Issac Millachip start in the back row and Jack Stride get a run out on the wing; however, top billing was reserved for the return of Matty Hand for his first game of the season from the bench, following shoulder surgery.
Disproving the new-year saying, ‘out with the old and in with the new’, still going strong for another year, the bench also had the old guard of Cormac Nolan and Oli Higginson primed and ready to go. All 5 were to have a major influence on the game.
The game got underway, and Redruth were first to register a score. Following a penalty, Redruth executed a line-out catch and drive, with hooker Thomas Cowan-Dickie emerging on the end of things, a score his brother down the road at Sale would have approved of. The extras were added by Angus Mawson, and Redruth were 7-0 up after 6 minutes. Redruth looked to extend the lead after 10 minutes, but a penalty by Mawson sailed wide of the posts. Missed kicks were to prove costly for the away side.
Lymm finally found their stride and were on the score sheet, through the ever-reliable boot of Tom Shard, 7-3 after 18 minutes. On 25 minutes, Lymm crossed the line for the first time with the lively Millachip touching down after an excellent run, with the conversion added by Shard, Lymm moved to a 10-7 lead.
Matty Hand entered the fray just before the half hour and immediately stabilised the scrum, which had been creaking. However, it was from a scrum that Mawson, the Redruth ten, who was a thorn in Lymm’s side all afternoon, strolled over from first-phase ball, through an absent Lymm midfield. Dean Willis took over the kicking duties for Redruth and the extras were added to take the score to 14-10 in the away team’s favour.
Lymm came back almost immediately. This time Hand found himself on the right wing, executing an outrageous reverse pass, allowing Paddy Jennings to scamper over. Shard again added the extras, 17- 14 to Lymm.
With half-time beckoning, Lymm needed to keep it tight, but anyone who has watched Lymm recently will know they are most vulnerable when they have scored and also have a poor knack of conceding just before the break. Sure enough, this is what happened again, with two soft tries leaked in the last 5 frantic minutes, one of which was converted. Having hoped to go to the break leading, Lymm were suddenly 26-17 down with much work to do.
Half-time Lymm 17 – Redruth 26
Lymm needed to score first in the second half – they didn’t, as Redruth executed another catch and drive on 50 minutes, this time, Connor Triggs emerged with the ball. Again, the conversion was missed, but at 31-17 to the visitors, Lymm were staring down the barrel.
It was time for the old guard from the bench. Higginson joined proceedings on 55 minutes, and immediately Lymm got a score back through their own rolling maul. Rob Makin showing anything that Cowan-Dickie could do………Shard converted to make the score 31-24. A further missed penalty by Redruth kept the lead to one score.
Lymm were now on top, running hard at Redruth and starting to find holes in the previously resolute Cornish defence. Momentum was temporarily halted on 65 minutes when Stride received a yellow card for a high tackle as he chased a ball in the dead-ball area.
Lymm continued to press, the introduction of Nolan saw Callum Morris move to scrum-half, and Morris started to attack round the fringes, causing panic in the Redruth defence. On 73 minutes, Higginson was the beneficiary, slaloming over from 25 yards. Shard was again on target, and with 5 minutes to go, it was all square at 31-31.
Lymm now sensed victory, and it came via Nolan, chasing a seemingly speculative through kick from Shard. What do we know? The ball took a favourable bounce in the in-goal area, evading the Redruth defender and allowing Nolan to anticipate and dot down. Shard missed his first kick of the day, but it didn’t matter – the old guard had saved the day, and Lymm played out the last few minutes in the relative safety of the halfway line before Morris kicked the ball out for a triumphant 36-31 victory.
It could have been so different, but a win is a win, and a great start to the New Year.
Full-time Lymm 36 – Redruth 31
Adam Fletcher, Director of Rugby, had this to say: ‘The last 15 minutes of the game were absolutely fantastic, quite the opposite of the shaky moments right before half-time. We definitely need to focus on keeping our concentration after scoring and in the lead-up to half-time, as that’s when we tend to give away points.
‘At half-time, we set the boys a challenge to keep the opposition to just one score, thinking that would give us a great shot at winning. Coming out on top in the second half 19-5 was really satisfying.
‘There were some standout performances on the pitch. Having Matty Hand back was a huge boost, and Jack Lightbown really made his presence felt. The efforts of Oli Higginson and Cormac Nolan in securing the win were the highlights of the afternoon,’ he happily concluded.
On Saturday, 17 January, Lymm face Loughborough Students away in what will be a stern test of their defence against the free-flowing students. Lymm will be hoping for a similar performance and result to maintain the upward trajectory.
Team
1. Ben Lilley (33 caps), 2. Rob Makin (98)*, 3. Joe Higgins (33), 4. James Yates (147), 5. Ben Thompson (62), 6. Rhys Lilly (86), 7. Issac Millachip (19), 8. Josh Hadland (72), 9. Tom Mananton (38), 10. Tom Shard (157), 11. Tom Heaton (10), 12. Ste Pilkington (95), 13. Paddy Jennings (92), 14. Jack Stride (30), 15. Callum Morris (77)
Reserves: 16. Matty Hand (127), 17. Oli Lightbown (10), 18. Oli Higginson (292), 19. Liam Stewart (3), 20. Cormac Nolan (218).
