Match Report
North one west
January 2nd 2010
New brighton 7 v lymm 20
Lymm go 8 points clear.
With this the only game to survive the weather in North 1 West Lymm went 8 points clear, albeit with 2nd place Northwich now having 2 games in hand.
New Brighton seemed keen to play in the borderline conditions. Perhaps thinking a wet pitch may nullify Lymm’s backs and even the contest. In fact both sides struggled with the conditions with endless handling errors created a bitty contest without much to warm the brave fans. Both sides struggled with unavailability’s. Lymm were forced to make 5 changes with Butler, Miksys, Broadbent and the seasoned Kinsey all starting. Pickles returned from absence and there were positional changes for Williamson, Higginson and Griffiths.
Lymm started brightly, bossing most areas of the set piece and the visitors were first on the score board. Joe Knowles scything through the defence after great work from Dave Williamson at 13. A missed conversion and missed penalty on 38 mins ,from great distance ,seemed to suggest the enigmatic 15 was struggling to kick in the conditions but he had no problem ,in front of the posts ,on 39 mins converting his own sensational try ,scampering 50 metres to make the score 12 -0 to Lymm at half time.
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New Brighton needed to start the second half well and a perfect cross kick from their fly half, Birley, allowed winger Simpson to score on 47 mins. Birley notched the conversion. 7-12. However that was their only real chance of scoring as the Lymm defence held firm, especially in the back row. Knowles was successful with a penalty on 71 mins, 15-7 and an excellent try from man of the match Higginson on 78 mins gave the score some respectability. 20-7.
Lymm may thank the referee for allowing the game to be played. At this time of the season points on the “board” are always better than games in hand and an 8 point advantage is significant with 11 games remaining. Lymm will look at their remaining fixtures, with 7 at home, and feel the decision to play was correct.
The next game at home to 2nd place Northwich now looks immense for both teams. Battle scarred coach Kinsey was mindful of the coming game. “a 2 point away win against tough opposition was invaluable particularly with no one else playing. The victory is a great warm up for next weeks biggest game of the season at home to Northwich”.
Lymm will now look to replace scrum half Chris Griffiths who is now off on his travels until the summer. Griffiths has been in outstanding form and will be missed. Playing on the wing at New Brighton he felt that “it wasn’t the prettiest of games but another win nonetheless. It has been a pleasure to play with the lads and I think promotion is now in our hands even with the possibility of the ageing scrum half. See you all in August”
Lymm V Northwich. 2.15 pm kick off this Saturday. Lymm expect to be at full strength for this important encounter. 7 -20
Team: 1.Adam Cox 2 Scott Harrison 3 Keith Broadbent 4. Darius Miksys, 5. Lee Pickles 6 Jake Ashall 7 Ollie Higginson 8. Mark Sutton 9 Chris Kinsey 10. Tom Hughes 11 Richard Butler 12 Mike Swetman 13 Dave Williamson 14 Chris Griffiths 15. Joe Knowles C
A report from NBRFC by Doug Thorpe
Team Sheet: 15. Vinnie Dutton (Adam Pitt), 14. Gareth Simpson, 13. Steve Ashcroft, 12. Sean Ellis, 11. Andy Signal, 10. Antony Birley, 9. Luke Thompson, 1. John Williams (Andrew Wall), 2. Phil Buckley, 3. Mohammed Mustafa, 4. JackPaul Lewis, 5. Paul Roberts, 6. Keith Mahon, 7. Mafi Simione, 8. Loa Tupou
A heavy fall of sleet laden rain late morning caused a slight delay to the kick off for slush and water to be squeegeed off some small areas of the pitch at the referee’s request. Though, this did leave the pitch eminently playable the inevitably uncertain footing and biting cold combined to make for difficult conditions with which neither side managed to cope particularly well. Lymm stormed into match from the kick off. With a powerful pack establishing a domination early the visitors virtually monopolised possession and but for repeated errors and a determined defence from the Blues they should realistically have sewn up the game by half time.
As it was, the 12 point lead at the break – a brace of tries by Joe Knowles and Chris Griffiths and a Knowles conversion - looked a bit meagre as the Blues enjoyed their own purple patch early in the second half. An excellent try Gareth Simpson, converted by Anthony Birley, was followed almost immediately by a penalty award which the normally reliable boot of the fly half just failed to convert into points, which, had it been successful, would have reduced the lead to a mere 2 points. New Brighton might then have grabbed the initiative but with the pack struggling they were never able to build up the momentum and, as the effort and the conditions took their toll on stamina and Keith Mahon in the sin bin, the visitors rounded off the final quarter with the ensuing penalty and a very well constructed late try by blind side Oliver Higginson. New Brighton had been hit by injuries and a number of unavailablities which necessitated both personnel and positional changes. The iconic Kati is out with a broken arm and although Loa Tupou, replacing him at No8 was incredibly adept at picking the ball up at the back of a rapidly retreating pack and carrying it back at the opposition.
Considering that Mafi Simioni, Kieth Mahon on the flanks and Luke Thompson at scrum half were all playing in positions with which they are not normally associated they did every bit as well as could be expected. Andy Signal, Luke Thompson and Sean Ellis were all key in the lead up to Anthony Birley’s perfectly placed cross kick for Gareth Simpson’s try in the corner.
Vinnie Dutton at fullback proved to be very competent under the high ball and, though at times ill advised, he did make determined attempts to attack from deep. He was unfortunate to attract a yellow card when following up his own kick he absolutely crunched the catcher, who was deemed to be off the ground at the time, with a superb tackle.