Chester 19 – 51 Lymm

Lymm romp home in local derby

It has been a number of seasons since Chester and Lymm have played this much anticipated local derby, compounded last season with Chester selected by the RFU to play in the West League, with Cornwall a regular venue. This is the same level, Level 4, as Lymm and they finished mid-table so a closely fought encounter was anticipated.

However, Lymm’s pre-season training and coaching has clearly teed the team up for a great start to the season as they kicked off their second game, also away from home.

Chester started brightly enough, on a sunny but breezy afternoon, but a missed penalty, awarded for not rolling away, failed to get the scoreboard ticking over. The ball fell short of the posts, into the arms of centre Sam Wadsworth who sprinted strongly from the try line, avoiding several attempts to tackle him, to the 10 yard line – a sign of things to come from the Lymm backs.

The standard kicking contest ensued with Lymm’s half backs, Slimline Shard at fly half and Cal Morris at scrum half, making significant territorial inroads. An attacking line-out 20m out, saw Lymm start a rolling maul then Morris spotted a gap, took the ball from the back of the maul and fed left wing Paddy Jennings to beat his marker and sprint home for the first try. Shard was accurate as he confidently converted from wideout making it 0-7 after 8mins.

Immediately after the kick off Morris had his clearance kick charged down by second row Spalding, scoring in the right hand corner 5 – 7 after 9 mins. A clever chip a few minutes later by Morris was followed up by Jennings, winning a scrum 5m from the Chester line.

Dissension from Chester at scrum-time was penalised, and Morris, quick as a flash, took a tap penalty and launched himself over the line, no doubt with the charge down still haunting him. Shard converted, taking the score to 5 – 14 after 14 mins.

Morris occasionally goes to full back so he can use his siege gun of a kick to make yardage, when the ball is kicked by the opposition. He did just that and the ball was mishandled by the defender thus giving Lymm a very promising attacking line out 20m from Chester’s line.

Another infringement by Chester allowed Morris to take his now trademark quick tap penalty and the ball was moved wide to the right, where Jennings, who had cleverly moved across, tapped it in-field for centre Ste Pilkington to collect and score 5 – 19 with the conversion missed after 21 mins.

Then came, arguably the try of the match as Shard, who looked increasingly sharp and incisive, chipped over the incoming defensive line. He collected his own chip, drew the defender and fed centre Sam Wadsworth who sprinted into score wideout 5 – 24 after 26 mins. Lymm had the four-try bonus point and were cruising.

Chester, after this blitz, were becoming frustrated and needed the next score. An attacking line out gave them an opportunity but the ball was held up over the line. The drop-out from behind Lymm’s line allowed Chester to come once more but Lymm’s smothering defence did the job.

Lymm then had their own attacking line out and were awarded a penalty under the posts which Shard was never going to miss 5 – 27 after 32 mins.

Chester, to their credit, tried to throw the ball wide in search of a score to bring them back on terms. However, the ball went to ground and Nathan Beesley, the right wing and captain, calmly picked up the loose ball and sprinted home from 60m, to score under the posts 5 – 34, with Shard’s conversion on 36 mins.

Any enthusiasm Chester’s young team had started with dropped significantly after this barrage of attacking rugby.

But Lymm were not yet finished in this half. The forwards and backs, all oozing confidence at this point, then put a sumptuous sequence of passing together, to the outside then back inside, for flanker Harry Martin to score near the posts, 5 – 41 as the half time whistle went.

This had been as clinical a performance of strong defence and attacking rugby as the large number of Lymm supporters had ever seen.

Half Time: Chester 5 – 41 Lymm

An early penalty from Shard went wide, hitting the post, but an attacking line out 5m out, from gave Lymm momentum as Morris plucked the ball out the rolling maul, from the hirsuit hooker Rob Makin, and scored near the posts. 5 – 48 on 44 mins, as Shard bounced the ball off both posts for his conversion.

Chester attacked with intent but once more the Lymm line held strongly and with discipline. However, an attacking line out and rolling maul 5m from Lymm’s line gave Chester the encouraging score they were looking for 12 – 48 after 56 mins.

Lymm’s passing phases remained sharp and a penalty in front of the sticks took the score to 12 – 51 on 61 mins.

Lymm could not maintain the impetus of the first half but defended well throughout the match. As the coaches emptied the bench Lymm lost a little shape and Chester scored a consolation try on 78 mins, showing both spirit and fight, but did not get the four try bonus point they were seeking.

Final Score: Chester 19 – 51 Lymm

The final score does not flatter Lymm in the slightest and they were worthy of such a winning margin. If they can continue to field such a strong squad the future looks bright indeed for this very fit and skilful Lymm team.

DoR Adam Fletcher had this to say: ‘What a great performance. The boys have worked hard over the last 3 months and are now reaping the rewards.

‘It was even more pleasing to hear the winning results of the 2’s and 3’s games. We don’t get many clean sweeps so when they come along, they are definitely worth celebrating.

‘The atmosphere back at the club was excellent, it was great to see the 1’s and 2’s mixing and all enjoying a beer together. The club should be very proud of all the Lymm players today.

‘We’re looking forward to playing in front of our fans next week, it’s been a while. We’re also looking forward to a big crowd.’

Head Coach Andy Davies was equally delighted, ‘An awesome day all round, with all three Lymm teams winning.

‘In the first half we were in devastating form and were very clinical with the ball. But hats off to Tom Bray, the defence coach, and Mark Williams, the forwards coach, for the work they’ve done on defence and set piece as we’re putting teams under immense pressure which is providing plenty of opportunities to counter attack.

‘It wasn’t a perfect showing so still lots of work to do at training, but the boys are taking everything on board and working hard and they deserve to be very proud of the performances they have put in so far,’ concluded Andy.

Team: 1. Joe Higgins (16) 2. Rob Makin* (66) 3. Matty Hand* (109) 4. Josh Maskery (2) 5. Rhys Lilly* (56) 6. Harry Martin (57) 7. Josh Hadland* (40) 8. Oli Higginson* (265) 9. Cal Morris (40) 10. Tom Shard* (136) 11. Paddy Jennings* (54) 12. Sam Wadsworth* (18) 13. Ste Pilkington* (67) 14. Nathan Beesley (c)* (69) 15. Jack Reynolds (23)

Reserves: 16. Ben Lilley (1) 17. James Pitcher* (69) 18. Ben Thompson (31) 19. Isaac Millachip* (2) 20. Tom Manaton (2)

*Denotes graduate of the Colts Academy

(Number) denotes caps for First XV.

Referee: Jack Moorhouse

Match Report: Simon Plumb

Photos: John Cartwright

Other Results:

Lymm 2nd XV 65 – 22 Macclesfield 2nd XV

Macclesfield 3rds 22 – 73 Lymm Eagles

Ormskirk Senior Colts 12 – 17 Lymm Senior Colts

Lymm Junior Colts 7 – 26 Chester Junior Colts