Lymm 27
Chester 19

Impressive defensive effort wins the day

On a glorious September afternoon, Lymm, fresh from their last gasp win at Blackburn the previous week, entertained Chester, who had enjoyed a much more straightforward win against Preston Grasshoppers on the same day, to Crouchley Lane.  With Chester being one of the stronger teams in the League, this was always going to be a stern test for Lymm’s young squad.  Despite the usual shift in personnel from week to week, due to unavailabilities and First XV call-ups, Lymm’s ranks were bolstered through the availability of Jake Ashall and the presence of newcomers, former colt Steve Pilkington and Kieran Hughes.

Lymm kicked off and were immediately on the offensive.  An early Chester infringement at the breakdown presented an opportunity to put the first points on the board, but the long-range effort drifted just left of the posts.  However, from the restart Lymm maintained the pressure on Chester and a clever kick from scrum-half George Anderson put the ball behind the Chester defensive line causing them to concede an attacking 5m line-out.  Securing possession, Lymm’s forwards pounded the Chester line and, then moving play wide to the right, impressive handling put the ball in right wing Richard McEvoy’s hands 10m, with the supporting Pilkington in position to take the inside pass and score the opening try.  Birthday boy Josh Davies then added the extras from wide out, not wasting an ounce of effort as the ball shaved the cross bar. 7-0.

The next passage of play was all about the Lymm defence.  Chester were camped in the Lymm 22 for the next 15 minutes, throwing everything they had in an effort to equalise the scores.  The penalty count against Lymm mounted but Chester declined a number of readily kickable opportunities, opting instead for attacking line outs close to the Lymm line.  The Lymm defense, where Matty Connolly and Ashall in particular led by example, was immense and proved itself up to the task, pressurising the Chester attack and effecting turnovers at crucial times although, with Lymm unable to properly shift the play into the Chester half, any respite was brief.

Finally though, Lymm managed to put some phases together and, after initially making inroads through the Chester mid-field, moved the ball to the right where McEvoy made good yards, then bringing the ball back in-field on a trademark mazy run, allowing the recycled ball to be moved smartly through Lymm hands, including a perfectly timed pass from Connolly, to the left flank where Reece Forrest capitalised on an overlap to score.  The conversion was missed.  12-0.

A similar phase of play followed with the Lymm defense being severely tested but holding firm.  Again, Lymm capitalised on some rare possession moving the ball purposefully to the right where, this time, McEvoy saw sufficient space between his opposite number and the touchline to show his pace and score Lymm’s third try.  Again the conversion was unsuccessful.  17-0.

A mistake from the re-start handed Chester possession in the Lymm 22 and this time they were, eventually, able to make the sustained pressure tell, scoring out to the right.  To be fair to Lymm though they had made Chester battle extremely hard for this initial score.  The conversion narrowly missed.  17-5, which was the score at half time.

A minute or so into the second half, Chester coughed up the ball in mid-field on the halfway line.  Lymm were quick to respond and the kick-chase that followed, aided by a favourable bounce, allowed Hughes to stroll in under the posts, making the conversion a formality.  24-5.

Notwithstanding their strong defence, Lymm didn’t make life easy for themselves in their seeming inability to properly clear their lines and take play into the Chester half.  Penalty kicks missed touch; line-outs failed to hit their men; and a poorly set scrum all handed the possession back to Chester in ominously attacking positions.  Eventually, the defence did crack with the Chester fly-half, who had been a threat all afternoon, spotting a mismatch in midfield, ghosting between two Lymm forwards from 10m out to score under the posts.  24-12.

With Lymm regularly infringing it was inevitable that they would spend a period reduced to 14, and with 12 minutes left a Lymm forward was required to take such a break.  Finally, the advantage of the extra-man left the Lymm defence thin, allowing the Chester hooker to cross the try line on the left, running round to score under the posts.  24-19.

With a nail biting last 4 minutes in prospect, from the restart, Lymm were awarded a penalty just inside the Chester half.  Electing to go for goal, more it was thought to “wind the clock down”, McEvoy confounded everyone (maybe other than himself) in putting the ball straight between the posts with a monster kick from over 40m.  27-19

Whilst the win was now assured there was no let up in the Lymm defence as Chester again attacked deep into the Lymm 22, the final whistle sounding as Lymm once again thwarted Chester’s valiant attack.

Full Time:  LYMM 27 – 19 CHESTER

An excellent game between two well matched teams which, in the depths of winter would have “warmed the cockles”, however on such a warm September afternoon it just made the first cold pint feel all that much better.

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