LYMM ARE PROMOTED TO RFU NATIONAL LEAGUES

MANCHESTER 28 – 50 BLACKBURN

Lymm had to await the above result to confirm whether they would be promoted to the RFU National Leagues instead of Lancashire rivals Blackburn. Lymm’s season was completed last week with their 81 – 5 win over Northwich. Blackburn had this final game in hand, which they first of all had to win with a try scoring bonus point, leaving both Clubs being even on 96 League points. Promotion would then go to the club with the highest total season +/- match score difference. Before the above game, Lymm were +94 ahead of Blackburn, so Blackburn’s target was to win by a clear 95 points.

Lymm had faith in Manchester’s pride and wishing to finish the season in competitive style to round of their promotion season to Level 5 rugby. To assist them a large number of Lymm supporters travelled to Manchester to give added support. They didn’t disappoint and gave the visitors a tough game scoring 3 excellent tries and should compete well in this league next season. It was only in the last 10 minutes of the game that Blackburn scored two converted tries but a net +22 points left them well short of their target.

Lymm players & coaches at the Club celebrating the news they are promoted

So for the first time in their history, from next season, Lymm will be playing in The RFU National Leagues at Level 4, playing in National League 2 and in the top 80 clubs in England. This is some achievement for the club and indeed a great honour for both Lymm and the town of Warrington. It may be of interest for the RFU to note, that Lymm are an excellent example of Grass Roots Rugby at its best and it is possible that we will be the only amateur club to be playing in the National Leagues, with on average 70% of this season’s squad having graduated through Lymm’s Minis & Juniors and Colts Academy.

The celebrations on Saturday, to mark this historic achievement of the 1stXV squad and coaches, went on ‘till late in the evening at the Lymm Clubhouse. Congratulations to all of our 39 players, who have played this season; James Yates, our 1stXV Captain; Director of Rugby, Adam Fletcher; Head Coach, Andy Davies; Defence Coach, Tom Bray; Forwards Coach, Gav Woods. Thank you Andy Leach for the full and very detailed Season Statistics, which are given at the end of this post.

The Lymm squad and Coaches prior to the 81 -5 win over Northwich

Papa John’s Men’s Community Cup

The rugby hasn’t finished. The 1^st XV are now taking part in the Papa John’s sponsored RFU Community Cup, which culminates in a final at Twickenham on Sunday 30^th April. Our first game is away to Bromsgrove in the Midlands on Saturday April 1^st. Full details of this competition and similar comps for 2^nd & 3^rd team are given on our website www.lymmrugby.co.uk

Lymm RFC Stats

Team

Playing record for the season was as follows:

• Over the season Lymm registered 96 league points, a record (previous best being 88 in 2017/18) including a record 20 bonus points (previous best of 18 in 2021/22).
• Points scored of 1,089 in 22 matches is a record for Lymm at this level. The previous best was across the 26 matches played in the 2021/22 season.
• The average points scored over the previous 11 seasons was 615 in 26 matches.
• The points against of 373 was also a season’s low, slightly better than the 382 conceded in 2017/18 – albeit the 2017/18 total was across 26 matches rather than the 22 played this season, giving it a lower points conceded per match of 15 (vs 17).
• Altogether, Lymm scored 160 tries in these 22 matches, an average of over 7 tries per match. The previous highest try tally for a season was 119 over the 26 matches played in 2021/22.
• There were 113 successful conversions (again a record) giving a “success rate” of 70.6%, a little way short of the season’s best 78.3% in 2017/18.
• The 21 penalties scored were, however, the lowest Lymm has ever managed in a season although, to a great extent, this reflects Lymm’s confidence in their ability to score tries and the absence of a need to convert penalties to win matches.
• According to the RFU Stats, which covers every team, male or female, that plays in a RFU organised competition at any level, Lymm recorded:
  The 4^th highest points scored at home;
  The 10^th highest points scored away;
  The 10^th highest winning margin in a match;
  The 10^th highest average points per match at 49.5; and
  If tries scored had been reported to the RFU, Lymm would have registered the 4^th highest!

Players

• 39 different players were used during the season, which is pretty much par for the course, the average over the past 12 seasons being 40.
• Of these, 9 were making their league debut.
• Only one player, Scott Redfern, played in all 22 matches. The next highest appearances being from Tom Shard (21) and Gav Woods/Nathan Beesley (20).
• 31 different players scored a try.
• Nathan Beesley scored an incredible 32 tries to finish as the League top try scorer. This was achieved despite missing two matches, Kirkby Lonsdale (A) and Sandbach (H) when 19 tries were scored and being “rested” for the second half of the home fixture against Kirkby Lonsdale.
• Nathan’s tally is a club record at this level, the previous best being the 15 scored in 2010/11 by Dave Williamson and in 2015/16 by Rich McEvoy.
• Rob Makin also scored a remarkable 17 tries in his 14 appearances, in the process beating the try scoring record for a forward of 10, which was registered by Aaron Rasheed over 21 matches in 2018/19.
• Cormac Nolan scored 257 points in his 18 appearances during the season – he missed both matches against Kirkby Lonsdale, Sandbach (A) and Stockport (H) in which Lymm amassed a total of 274 points. This total included 11 tries and was his second most prolific since making his debut in 2012/13. However, this highest tally of 270 points in 2013/14 was scored over 26 matches.

Season’s landmarks

• Oli Higginson played his 250^th
• Cormac Nolan made his 200^th
• Nick Ashton, Tom Shard, Scott Redfern, Gav Woods and Joe Watson each passed the 100^th appearance mark.
• Nathan Beesley played in his 50^th match, across which he has scored a highly impressive 52 tries.
• Adam Fletcher coached his 200^th
• Cormac Nolan nudged his career points tally over the 2,000 mark and, also, became Lymm’s top try scorer at this level, moving his total to 72 over the course of the season – however, he will no doubt have spotted Nathan Beesley coming up fast in his rear view mirror!
• In the home match against Kendal, Lymm registered their 1,000 try at this level (since the start of the 2010/11 season), a total which by season end had increased to 1,057.
• Gav Woods, Ben Simpson and Nathan Beesley have each been named in the league “team of the season”, adding their names to those of Oli Higginson and Cormac Nolan who were selected in last season’s team.