Match Report
North one west
27th February 2010
Vale of Lune 8 v Lymm 25
lymm land the points in lancester
Having beaten title challengers, Northwich, the week before Vale were looking for another scalp to scupper championship hopefuls. The visitors knew it would be a battle, fully aware that the hosts had strengthened their team in an apparently successful bid to avoid the drop.
The days of rotation are over with coach Kinsey replacing the ailing Swetman with Butler and shuffling the centres. Injury to loose head Brown would bring veteran Broadbent back and starlet Mullarkey got a start at 7 in place of the unavailable Cullinane.
The game hinged on two charge downs. Lymm took the lead on 5 mins when Tom Hughes took a pass from the excellent Andy Roberts, who managed to hold onto a charge down in the Vale 22. Great composure from the 10. Knowles failed with the conversion, himself the victim of a charge down.
The kicker and league’s top points scorer had little trouble on 22 with a penalty. 8-0 to the league leaders.
On 31 a Scott Harrison line out throw went long. The ever present Stringer ,having the better of the tussle with the Vale 9 ,collected and released Roberts for another score. The half finished with Vale in the ascendancy. A pulsating 10 mins of forward attack and great defending from Lymm. A breathtaking Tom Hughes turnover kept Vale off the score board at the whistle.
0-15
Vale started brightly and they fully deserved their try on 50. 5-15 and on 58 mins young pup Mullarkey was harshly adjudged to be holding on and Vale had a difficult penalty ,40 metres out. It missed. Pressure was on Lymm further 90 seconds later when Broadbent was sin binned and the penalty was successful. . On came Miksys for only his second ever outing at 3 and immediately impressed.
With the feeling that Lymm could absorb everything Vale had the tide turned and on 70 another poor kick sealed the home side’s fate. Knowles had a long penalty chance. Missed ,10 metres short. The Vale 9 attempted to clear his lines but failed. Swetman collecting the ball on the half way line. A long pass found Knowles who scythed through the Vale defence and released Higginson who drew a defender and joint top try scorer Williamson went over. 20-8.
On the stroke of time Hughes charged down another defensive kick and man of the match Roberts went over. 25-8.
With Northwich postponed in controversial circumstances, Lymm are 6 points clear with 7 games remaining. There was a feeling that this was a huge win against a good side. Lymm now have 5 home games from their remaining fixtures and they entertain perennial strugglers Blackburn next Saturday.
Double try scorer Roberts, in probably his best game at 10 for the club, praised the defence “It was a fantastic defensive team effort and that set the platform. We took our chances really well and lets hope we can use the momentum we have for next week and the rest of the season”
Kinsey also praised the aggression.” Ultimate it was the return of our aggressive defence that proved to be the platform to frustrate our determined opponents. From that we could release the pace we have in abundance”
Kinsey has a strong squad to choose from next Saturday with new signings Andy Davies and Tim Oakes both in contention along with skipper Fletcher.
Team: 1.Danny Bates 2 Scott Harrison 3 Keith Broadbent 4. Ollie Higginson, 5. Lee Pickles 6 Jake Ashall 7 Sam Mullarkey 8. Mark Sutton 9 Luke Stringer 10. Andy Roberts 11 Richard Butler 12 Tom Hughes 13 Dave Williamson 14 Jack Johnstone 15. Joe Knowles C
NORTH WEST INTERMEDIATE RUGBY UNION LEAGUE
miller homes division one
Lymm 2s 44 v preston grasshoppers 2s 10
Lymm returned to the top of Miller Homes Division 1 table in style against a strong, forward orientated ‘Hoppers’ 3rd XV. The Lymm pack stepped up to the challenge and provided a stable platform to play off. A blend of experience and youth was the recipe and once again their young fly-half Sean Wright injected pace into the Lymm backline, something they weren’t used to but adapted to very quickly. First half tries came from Richardson, Emmitt and Hinton, Wright kicking one conversion and a penalty.
HT 20 – 0
The visitors came out strongly from the restart and for a while had the home side on the backfoot. Lymm forwards eventually regained control and further tries came from McPartland, Millachip, Richardson and Emmitt with Wright kicking two conversions. In a good all round team performance, Luke Emmitt was voted Man of the Match.
Lymm 3rd XV lost 25-0 away to Sefton 2nd XV.
Team: 1) John Grant; 2) Nick Girdlestone; 3) Jordan Widdrington; 4) John McPartland; 5) Phil Griffiths; 6) Ryan Doyle; 7) Andy Williamson; 8) Peter Millachip; 9) Pat Roberts; 10) Sean Wright; 11) Andy Richardson; 12) Dave Roberts; 13) Adam Fergusson; 14) Ben Hinton; 15) Luke Emmitt; Subs: 16) Andy Norcott (C); 17) Sean Gillespie; 18) Tom Wood