Report: Dave Fernyhough Pictures: Stephen Mock
LYMM’S Beechwood ground was a hive of pre-match activity in anticipation of the visit by league leaders Camborne.
A number of the Cornishmen had been entertaining Lymm village pub-goers with their songs about tin and fish the night before, this was to be skipper Nathan Beesley’s 100th appearance for Lymm, and the M & J section had arrived en-masse to provide a 40 metre long guard of honour.
Director of Rugby Adam Fletcher and Head Coach Andy Davies were the first through the guard tunnel and both surprisingly managed to run through without sustaining any injuries.
The weather was bright, but with a cold, blustery wind that would impact certain aspects of the game, most notably kicking from deep.
The visitors were large and very experienced, with a fair amount of premiership/French pro league experience scattered through the team, plus more than one Fiji international wearing the white and red.
Camborne kicked off and immediately put Lymm under pressure deep in their 22. Lymm attempted to kick clear but didn’t make the metres needed. The visitors’ lineout, 20 metres from Lymm’s line, was executed well and then the backs combined to create a huge gap in the defence which their full back exploited to cross the line untouched. The conversion gave Camborne a very early 0 v 7 lead, all within 3 minutes.
Camborne would soon be back threatening the Lymm try line, capitalising on poor Lymm handling. However brave defence and some impactful tackles from the likes of Ben Lilley and Max Ure kept them at bay, and Camborne knocked on.
Again the home side were unable to find distance on their kick to touch and Camborne came right back at them. This time the Cornishmen won a lineout 5 metres from the line and the resulting maul inevitably lead to a second try, 0 v 12.
Lymm had been without the ball for most of the first ten minutes, but when they did eventually get meaningful possession the handling and passing lacked the crisp precision that has characterised the Lymm style in recent seasons.
Instead passes were going behind the target player, resulting in Lymm constantly being on the back foot, and knocking on. Second row James Yates and centre Steve Pilkington combined with hard straight running to push Lymm into decent field position, and Lymm briefly started to put phases together, and to find the occasional gap in the impressive Camborne defence and both sides had a couple of threatening attempts, again Lymm’s frantic goal line defence resisted Camborne’s onslaught.
The final score of the half was an excellent solo effort from the left winger, who side stepped and high stepped his way through Lymm’s flailing midfield.
Half time: Lymm 0 v 17 Camborne
Given the number of children present at the match it seems appropriate to reference a children’s book in the half time summation, “Lymm were Pooh on the blustery day”
Not that the kids cared….most had long since decamped to pitch 2 to engage in no blood, no foul, full contact roly-poly. Although if my own experience of being an M & J’s coach still holds relevance the under 11s will have wandered off in search of dirty women and narcotics….
om Manaton directs operations
Lymm then found a bit of spite from somewhere and began to front up more. Second row Yates and No 8 Higginson led the way, Cal Morris moved from full back to scrum half and Paddy Jennings entered the fray on the wing.
Wing and Captain Beesley made a strong break, finally being able to find some space to run into. The offload to Jennings just failed to work with the try line just metres away.
From the lineout Lymm were able to move the ball across the face of Camborne’s try line defence and then Josh Hadland forced himself through a gap to score with defenders hanging off him. 5 v 24.
For a substantial time Lymm were able to keep Camborne restricted to their own 22, but the visitors scored off the next 2 incursions into Lymm territory. A lineout maul took the score to 5 v 29, and another one led to the lead extending to 5 v 34. Camborne’s ruthlessness, when given an opportunity, was clear to see.
With the Crouchley Lane faithful now expecting a thrashing, Lymm dug deep into muscle memory and found a semblance of the form that served them so well in the past. The midfield defence was more active and secure, the running more finely tuned and the passing more accurate and sympathetic.
Morris, Beesley and centre Joe Heaton linked to get Lymm within yards of the try line, but the ball was dropped over the line. However Lymm came straight back with Ure battering his way through the Camborne pack, to within inches of scoring, and Morris was on hand to dab the ball down. 10 v 34.
Next Higginson and Morris again made fine breaks, and this time Beesley was able to capitalise on their efforts and race clear to score under the posts, 15 v 34. Shard converted, 17 v 34.
The visitors started to lose some of their composure, and successive penalties for high tackles led to a Lymm lineout, 15 metres from the line.
From the line out Jennings was able to break free from the defensive grasps and barge his way to the try line, 22 v 34.
Sadly at the line out a Camborne player suffers a severe leg injury, but despite vociferous Camborne complaints, Shard was able to take the score to within 10 points and Lymm had a try bonus point.
Despite Lymm efforts to gain a losing bonus point there would be no further score. A fracas on the final whistle displayed how tense the final quarter had been for both teams.
Final score. Lymm 24 v Camborne 24
Director of Rugby Adam Fletcher took some positives from the game. ‘Really happy with how we came back in the second half, to grab a four try bonus point. The last 20 minutes we gave Camborne lots of problems so that was really pleasing. The obvious concern was starting matches at the moment and leaving ourselves with too much to do, and pretty much out of the game by half time.
‘In terms of things to work on we’ve got to stop making simple, basic skill errors, which are beginning to kill us a little bit, especially against quality sides like Camborne. We’ve got to play the perfect match if we’re going to get a victory but in the first 60 minutes we made 5 or 6 glaring errors which let in 3 or 4 of their tries.
‘Overall we can be pleased with how we fought back but we know how important it will be to win at home against Hinckley next week,’ he concluded. (KO 2.30pm at Beechwood)
Cal Morris kicks
Reserves: 16. Joe Higgins *(35), 17. Rob Makin* (99), 18. Jack Lightbown (11), 19. Lewis Stewart (5), 20. Paddy Jennings* (94).
( ) = number of Lymm First XV League appearances
* Former Lymm Academy/M&J player
Referee: Ben Rayner
Assistant Referees: Ewan Leadbeater and Adrian Holmes
