Lymm 42 v Birkenhead Park 24
Lymm burst Birkenhead’s bubble
LYMM Rugby Union recorded a second consecutive six try mauling of a title pretender as they beat Birkenhead Park 42-24 at Crouchley Lane.
It is still early days for the Cheshire team but a scintillating second half display suggests a very promising season awaits as they find themselves 4th in the National League 3 table. Almost definitely the highest they have ever been.
Missing both starting 12s, Fletcher and Swetman, forced Kinsey into switching Tom Bray to inside and Dave Williamson to 13. Joe Knowles, after four weeks absence, was back to 15. Harrison started at 1 and replacing the injured Williams, the versatile Higginson moved into the second row alongside the impressive Darbyshire.
After Darbyshire’s outstanding game the week before it was a worry that he was off after 3 minutes. A nasty eye injury. Barnstormer Miksys was the replacement. This bad start was further underlined when poor defence allowed the Park 14 in on 5 mins to make it 0-7 to the visitors.
Lymm regrouped and within 4 mins had their own score. Dave Williamson slicing through similarly static defence to make it 7-7. It seemed the game would hang on which team could get at least one tackle in. The Park 12 went over on 13. 7-14 but yet again Williamson exploited the gap between the centres, found Rowley who switched the ball inside to Knowles. 12-14.
On 19 mins Lymm were adjudged to be offside to give Park a 12-17 lead. It had been a breathless opening quarter. Lymm took control and were unlucky not to notch more points but on 37 did take the lead with an outstanding score. Jack Johnstone, surely back to his best, retrieved a poor defensive kick, pirouetted past three defenders, released Knowles and his pass put Williamson over for his 2nd of the half to make it 19-17 at the break.
A solid restart was massively important so losing good possession through back chat and a sin bin for Miksys was not ideal. However, yet again, the sin binning seemrd to push Lymm up a gear. A Rowley penalty on 51 extended the lead and then on 55 an impressive carry from the excellent Adam Bray, superbly supported by Ashall and Williamson released Knowles to make it 27-17. On 57 Williamson was through again but held back illegally. Rowley took the penalty to increase the lead to 30-17.
Lymm had notched 11 points with the 14 man disadvantage.
With 15 on the pitch the Lymm backs were now rampant. On 60 Tom Bray broke through the Park midfield, offloaded to Williamson who found Knowles who perfectly released Johnstone. The flying full back clearly enjoying his return after injury.
On 64 minutes the impressive 10 Roberts chipped over the defence and Johnstone cruised over again to make the game safe at 42-17.
Lymm may have increased the score by another 20 had they been more composed at times. A final try for Park took the score to 42-24.
The backs took the glory but the game was won upfront with the Lymm front row in top form. Man of the match Scott Harrison was impressed said: “Today was a significant step forward for the club. The lads executed very well and we are improving week on week. It was a great game to be part of I hope the spectators pass on that Lymm RFC are building something special here.”
Coach Kinsey acknowledged there is still work to be done adding :“Frequently we provided the platform for some outstanding scores. To compete with the top teams we must address the defensive issues and have more discipline at the ruck.”
Director of Rugby Richard Boundy was cautious. “We would have taken this position at the start of the season but we must keep our feet on the ground. We are playing 2 of the bottom 3 in the next 2 weeks and this can lead to complacency. League tables in October don’t really mean anything”
Lymm now make the long journey to Billingham hoping to continue their fine run of recent form.
15 Joe Knowles 14 Jack Johnstone 13 Dave Williamson 12 Tom Bray 11 Andy Rowley 10 Andy Roberts 9 Chris Kinsey 1 Scott Harrison 2 Tim Oakes C 3 Jordan Widdrington 4 Tom Darbyshire 5 Ollie Higginson 6 Adam Bray 7 Jake Ashall 8 Lee Pickles 16 Johnny Bishop 17 Darius Miksys 18 Mark Sutton
