Hull 18 – 24 Lymm

Lymm find a way to make it eight from eight

Lymm traveled to Hull on Saturday full of confidence given their outstanding start to the season and with four previous victories on the road already behind them.  The match day squad showed 5 changes from the previous week’s excellent performance against Otley.  Unavailable were last week’s men of the match, Nick Rigby and Seb Kelly, Ralph MacEachran and Toby Wilson whilst Jack Stride was undrgoing concussion protocols.  In came fit again Harry Martin and Jack Reynolds; available again Josh Hadland and Ste Pilkington; and Ben Lilley.

Lymm kicked off and, immediately recovering the ball, were quickly into the Hull 22.  Although exhibiting plenty of pace, enterprise, “go forward” and looking dangerous, Lymm were not quite at their clinical best in these early exchanges. A penalty for offside against the Humbersiders gave Lymm the perfect platform – but the attacking lineout was lost.  Another wave of Lymm attacking play had them knocking on the Hull line, but strong defence caused Lymm to infringe at the breakdown whilst only a couple of metres from the whitewash, giving Hull the opportunity to clear their lines.  At this juncture, Lymm would have been disappointed that for all their field position and possession they had failed to get on the scoreboard.

Now it was Hull’s turn to show what they had with ball in hand.  As they went through the phases it was clear that their dynamic centre partnership of Bureta Faraimo and Alexander Heard would be central to both their attacking and defensive efforts – and they certainly were a handful throughout the match.  On 8 minutes, Hull were awarded a penalty for a breakdown offence 40m out in front of the posts which Fynlay Hobson duly converted.  3-0 after 8 minutes.

The restart was adjudged not to have crossed the 10m line resulting in a Hull scrum on halfway, from which the Lymm pack won a decisive penalty.  A kick to touch gave Lymm another great attacking platform but, once again, the line-out was lost, giving the ball back to Hull, who then proceeded to exhibit good ball retention as the worked their way downfield.  From a scrum in centerfield, the ball was moved from to the right where Faraimo bust a tackle to make a telling break deep into the Lymm 22, supporting Number 8 Adam Brankley then took the ball on a diagonal path towards the left-hand corner.  Although brought down by the Lymm defense, the ball was then sent back to the right wing where the unmarked Hobson ran in for an unconverted try.  8-0 after 13 minutes.

Lymm came right back and had the better of the next period.  Although there was a near miss from a catch and drive, a second attempt proved more rewarding when Oli Higginson splintered from the main drive to score a couple of metres in from the left-hand touchline.  Shard added an excellent conversion.  8-7 after 23 minutes.

Hull then certainly had the best of the remainder of the half with fly-half Harrison Astley, in particular, looking a creative thorn in Lymm’s side.  A 50/22 by the flyhalf gave them a good attacking platform, resulting a further kickable penalty for Hobson.  11-7 after 28 minutes.

On 35 minutes, an excellent individual try by Astley followed.  With Hull finding it difficult to power their way through the Lymm defensive line, the fly-half spotted a gap at the back and put in a deft chip which he collected to go over unopposed.  Hobson added the extras which ended the scoring for the half.

Half-Time:  Hull 18 – 7 Lymm

The view from the touchline was that Lymm had put in a curate’s egg of a performance – good in parts – but execution had been way off and the error count uncharacteristically high.  With so many visits into Hull’s 22 having been unrewarded on the scoreboard, it seemed inevitable that there would be strong words from the coaching team in the dressing room during halftime.

It soon became apparent that a different Lymm team had taken the field in the second half and, as a consequence, the majority of the second period was played out in Hull territory – but it was still an arm wrestle to convert this pressure into points.

Lymm’s first score of the half came following an attacking line-out on the Hull 22.  This time, rather than keep the ball in the forwards, it was moved through the backs with Nathan Beesley coming in off his right wing at pace to create a gap and uncertainty in Hull’s defensive line.  As they moved to close him down, Beesley threw a long pass to fellow winger Paddy Jennings who tiptoed down the left flank to score in the corner.  Shard added another excellent conversion.  18-14 after 54 minutes.

Lymm were now in the ascendency and with Hull’s increasingly desperate defending, the penalty count against them mounted.  On 61 minutes, substitute forward Mosese Nasilasila received the inevitable yellow card as the referee’s patience had been fully tested.  From the ensuing penalty and line-out the catch and drive was initially halted but then taken forward by Higginson and Hadland as they splintered off to the left, with the latter scoring 15m to the right of the uprights.  Shard failed to add the points from what was by far his easiest kick to date.  18-19 after 62 minutes, and Lymm had their noses in front for the first time in the match.

Lymm were still finding it hard though to break down the Hull defence and, it what seemed more an act of frustration rather than a plan, substitute scrum-half Tom Manaton, when in possession just inside the Hull half, put in a kick which initially drew groans from his fellow players, coaches and supporters as it looked to be sailing out on the full – only to be followed by “great kick Tom” as it landed just in the field of play to put Hull under pressure with a defensive line-out 5m from their try line.  As he has done so many times for Lymm over the years, Higginson then stole a vital throw and the Lymm juggernaut powered toward the line with Matty Hand making the final surge to register Lymm’s 4^th, bonus point try.  Shard again failing to add the extras. 18-24 after 72 minutes.

The last stanza was all Lymm, with play being confined to Hull territory.  In this period the Hull full-back, rather generously, only received a yellow card for a cynical late shoulder charge on Beesley after the wing had kicked past him and was racing to regather the ball.  This was a controlled period from Lymm as their resilient defence, with Lymm’s Man of the Match Rhys Lilley and teenager Isaac Millachip especially visible, kept Hull confined to their own 22.  A penalty kick from Shard with the last play failed to hit its mark, and so allowing Hull to come away with a losing bonus point.

Full Time: Hull 18 – 24 Lymm

Lymm ground out a win and collected another 5 league points on the road against an abrasive, physical and powerful Hull squad.  A characteristic of this maturing group is their ability to work out how to win games and to have the patience to execute plans.  Lymm is one of only two of the 56 National League teams to have registered 40 points from a possible 40 over this opening 8-week period – a remarkable performance, even more commendable as 5 of those 8 wins have been away from Crouchley Lane.  The players and coaches will now enjoy a well-deserved break before fixtures resume on 9^th November when second placed Leeds Tykes will be welcomed to Crouchley Lane (KO 2:30) for what is a thoroughly exciting prospect.  Indeed, of the 6 fixtures that remain to be played before Christmas, 4 will be at Crouchley Lane – a great prospect for players and supporters alike.

Reflecting on the match, Director of Rugby Adam Fletcher commented:

“Hull were great in the first half and probably caught us napping.  Halftime gave us the opportunity to regroup and lay out the plan for the second half.  The boys then went out and did exactly what the coaches had asked.  I was especially proud how the forwards played – there were some magnificent performances.”

“8 from 8 is pretty special but we want 9 from 9.  The boys will rest up next week before putting everything into the Leeds week.”

Team: Dan Hunter (6); Rob Makin* (72); Matty Hand* (115); Ethan Kermode (5); Ben Thompson (37); Rhys Lilly* (58); Oli Higginson* (271); Josh Hadland* (44); Cal Morris (46); Tom Shard* (142); Paddy Jennings* (60); Ste Pilkington* (72); Sam Wadsworth* (24); Nathan Beesley* (75); Jack Reynolds (24).
Bench: Ben Lilley (5); James Pitcher* (75); Isaac Millachip* (5); Harry Martin (61); Tom Manaton (7).

Referee: Peter Connor