Leeds Tykes 52 – 10 Lymm

Tykes show the form of champions

Lymm ventured across the Pennines on Saturday to face current league leaders and promotion favourites, Leeds Tykes.  With Leeds boasting an almost 2-year home unbeaten record, this was always going to be a tough ask for the squad who have, it’s fair to say, since the turn of the year struggled to reach their pre-Christmas form and consistency.  Lymm had previously played Leeds 3 times over the past two seasons with Lymm’s hard-fought 30-26 victory at Crouchley Lane last November being Lymm’s sole success to date.  That loss is Leeds’ only reversal this season, so they were no doubt keen to “balance the books” in the return fixture.

Continuing the selection disruption that has plagued Lymm since the turn of the year, Saturday’s squad showed 5 changes from the previous week with forwards Ben Lilley, Matty Hand and Isaac Millachip being drafted in to replace Josh Hadland and Oli Higginson; whilst Nathan Beesley and Jack Reynolds replaced Jack Stride, Andy Rowley and Harry Reay behind the scrum.

With the forecast near perfect spring weather greeting the teams for the late, 4:00 kick-off, not for the first time this season Lymm were the quickest out of the blocks.  Winning a line-out near halfway, Lymm took the play to Tykes with George Atherton and Rhys Lilly in particular making good yards into Leeds’ territory. With this forward momentum Cal Morris released his backline with Sam Wadsworth making significant progress before linking with fellow centre Joe Senior, who scooted in from 20m to score close to the left corner.  Although Reynolds narrowly missed with his difficult conversion attempt, Lymm had got off to a dream start.  0-5 after 2 minutes.

Shortly after and Lymm were knocking on the Leeds tryline again.  A telling break by Morris following a dummy at the base of the ruck took him to within 5m of the Leeds whitewash but, unfortunately, the link with his support didn’t quite go to hand and a scrum resulted.  Although Lymm had the put in, the power and technique of the Yorkshiremen’s scrum quickly became evident and they were awarded a penalty to relieve the pressure.  When another promising Lymm attack broke down on the Leeds 22, Tykes quickly capitalised and were soon on the attack on Lymm’s 22m line and whilst Lymm’s defence looked resolute, a moment of South Sea Island brilliance from fly-half Seremaia Turagabeci with a one handed “over the top” offload to his rampaging second-row teammate Jacob Brady, unlocked the Lymm defence, allowing him to score under the posts. 7-5 after 10 minutes.

On 23 minutes, Lymm were again defending on their 22m line.  This time it was a short ball around the fringes of the ruck that allowed centre Tom Williams to crack the Lymm defensive system, again scoring under the posts to stretch Leeds’ lead to 14-5.

Back though came Lymm and after a period of pressure in Tykes’ 22, a line-out ball went loose which Lymm gathered and attacked down the narrow side, creating the opportunity for Wadsworth to race over in that same left-hand corner.  Reynolds again narrowly missed the difficult conversion. 14-10 after 33 minutes and Lymm were very definitely in the game.

Then, on the cusp of halftime came the moment that took the wind out of Lymm’s sails.  With play around the halfway line, Leeds attacked the blindside where their centre found a chink in the Lymm defence as he powered down the 5m channel.  He then beat the last Lymm defender with an outrageous offload out of the back of his hand to his winger Ewan Evans, who raced towards the tryline from 35m.  Lymm’s Paddy Jennings had other ideas though and, showing tremendous pace, caught and brought down the Leeds flyer just short of the line.  Unfortunately for Lymm though, the winger was able to reach out and dot the ball down for Tykes’ third try.   An excellent touchline conversion by Kit Keith brought the half to a close.

Half-Time:  Leeds Tykes 21 – 10 Lymm

Leeds kicked off the second half and although Lymm retained the ball they were penalised for holding on.  The kick found touch just inside the Lymm 22 and the subsequent, inevitable, roiling maul trundled towards the Lymm line where hooker Adam Brown grounded the ball for an unconverted try.  Not the start to the half that Lymm wanted and needed.  Three minutes later it was that man Turagabeci again showing his class – this time with a perfect cross-field kick that bounced kindly for winger Evans to gather and claim his second try of the match. This time Keith added the extras.  33-10 after 44 minutes with Tykes having registered 19 points in 5 minutes to kill off Lymm’s hopes of springing an upset.

Throughout the second half Lymm had periods of pressure and opportunities to add to their tally, but errors, both forced and unforced, under pressure and a well-organised Leeds defence always confounded Lymm’s endeavours. At one point, Ben Thompson did cross for a “try” but was adjudged to have crossed the touchline in the act of scoring.

Leeds scored a further three tries in the half.  The first by Keith from a rolling maul; the second by Jack Smith with a bullocking run after a Lymm attack had been turned over and a clever miss pass had opened a channel down the right flank; and the third when, although Lymm were able to stop the Leeds centre from scoring following a 40m line-break, the stretched defence couldn’t prevent number 8 Edward Brown scoring out wide.  Two conversions by James Watts completed the scoring.

Final score: Leeds Tykes 50 – 10 Lymm

Lymm fought hard throughout the entire 80 minutes but, ultimately, the pace and power that Tykes had all across their squad proved too much on the day. After the match Lymm’s Director of Rugby Adam Fletcher commented:

“We started the game so well and had a great opportunity to go two scores up.  We knew the set-piece battle was always going to be tough – Leeds totally controlled this and were able to dominate the game from here.  Conceding immediately before and after half-time really hurt us and we weren’t able to recover.  In the last 20 minutes Leeds showed their class and put the game to bed.”

“The boys put a huge shift in, led by Yatesy.  What a great experience for George and Isaac who were both playing schoolboy rugby last season”

Team: Matty Hand* (125); Rob Makin* (85); Joe Higgins (23); James Yates* (c) (131); Ben Thompson (47); George Atherton* (2); Ethan Kermode (14); Rhys Lilly* (70); Cal Morris (59); Alfie Simpson* (37); Paddy Jennings* (72); Joe Senior* (32); Sam Wadsworth* (34); Nathan Beesley* (84); Jack Reynolds (34).
Bench: Ben Lilley (15); Gav Woods (135); James Pitcher* (88); Isaac Millachip* (10); Tom Manaton (18).

Referee: Jack Moorhouse

Match Report: Andy Leach