Report by Jim Knowles
LYMM went down 26-18 at Hull in a bizarre game of two pitches following a serious injury to one of the Hull players.
Last season Lymm lost twice in closely contested games against Hull and this season, occupying ninth and tenth league places respectively, another difficult game was anticipated by the visitors.
The growing injury list at Lymm resulted in changes to the squad. Oli Higginson was moved to centre with Joe Watson returning in the second row. Congratulations to Senior Colt, Will Titherington, who made his first start on the team at No 10 with Tom Bray moving to centre. Veteran Dave Williamson was a late call up to the bench.
Hull kicked off with a slight end to end breeze in their favour and ground conditions inviting open running rugby. Lymm had the first attack leading to a line out but lost the ball on their own throw. Despite this failure, Lymm’s sound defence confined Hull to their own half even with the host’s domination of possession. Eventually Hull resorted to a long kick finding touch on the Lymm 22m. The crooked throw gave Hull a scrum and straight running and quick hands for a simple try in the corner (5-0).
Lymm responded with Joe Knowles catching Hull’s long kicks and running the ball back to initiate attacks that kept Lymm in the Hull half. Good yards by scrum half Tom Baker gave Lymm a scrum. Number 8, Adam Bray, picked up and fed Baker to launch centre Ollie Higginson on a run to the line but his pass to his supporting wing was judged to be forward. A first half pattern was established with Lymm having territorial advantage but failing to capitalise due to impatience leading to handling errors.
Lymm did not win clean possession at a line out until the half hour mark but had parity or advantage at the set scrums and it was from a scrum that Baker kicked to in goal for a chase which the Hull fullback only just grounded in time to prevent the try. Cormack Nolan was then unlucky when his long range penalty attempt hit the post. Lymm continued to play a high intensity game and the ever busy Jake Ashall and Sam Mullarkey kept Lymm on the attack but ball retention at crucial moments frustrated promising attacks. In a final flourish to the half Nolan set himself up with a chip and chase when he was tripped. This brought a successful penalty shot for the victim and a yellow card for the offender.
Half time Hull 5 – 3 Lymm.
Lymm appeared to have benefited from Coach Adam Fletcher’s half time talk and reversed the pattern of poor line outs and impatience. Tom Bray got a try after a first 10 minutes of Lymm dominance but Nolan from wide out could not add the conversion. Having taken the lead (5-8) Lymm’s previously sound defence was suddenly absent as Hull first attack resulted in their centre scoring under the posts (12-8). Then Lymm, in their immediate attempt to get back in the game, gifted Hull an interception for another try under the posts (19 -8).
After 20 minutes, a serious injury to a Hull player resulted in the decision to move the game to another pitch to facilitate access for the ambulance. Spectators were still moving to the new pitch as Nolan reduced the arrears with a penalty. The game now seemed to have a slightly unreal feel, with both teams appearing to have less passion.
Hull scored a simple straightforward try to advance their lead (26-11). Skipper Tom Bray raised his team from the general malaise with a try near the posts which was a deserved reward for a spell of Lymm forwards dominance (26-18). Just before the final whistle Nolan failed with a penalty shot attempting to win a bonus point. As the ball sailed wide it perhaps summarised Lymm’s day of high hopes and frustration in a bizarre “game of two pitches”.
Next Saturday 29th October, Lymm are at home to Firwood Waterloo KO 2.15pm. On Sunday 30th October, Lymm RFC are honoured to be hosting the North of England, U18 County Festival. This comprises the following 3 matches. 11:00 Lancashire v Cheshire; 12:45 Durham v Cumbria; 14:30 Northumberland v Yorkshire. There may well be some Lymm players in the Cheshire squad. Admission is free.
Squad: 1) Mike Auden, 2) Ross White, 3) Jordan Widdrington, 4) Will Baldwin, 5) Joe Watson, 6) Jake Ashall, 7) Sam Mullarkey, 8) Adam Bray (C), 9) Tom Baker, 10) Will Titherington, 11) Chis Owens, 12) Oli Higginson, 13) Tom Bray, 14) Cormac Nolan, 15) Joe Knowles, 16) Dan Horton, 17) Matty Connolly, 18) Dave Williamson.
