Lymm 2nds 35 – 17 Blackburn 2nds

Maximum Points for Lymm on Home Soil

Lymm hosted Blackburn on what was a breezy afternoon at Beechwood, with a strong 19 man squad selected to take on the men from Lancashire.

Lymm started on the front foot with some high tempo rugby, and the quick phases through both forwards and backs led to an impressive team try rounded off by Paddy Jennings. The pressure from Lymm didn’t stop there, and in a matter of minutes the scoreline was doubled, a deft chip in behind from James Kimber was finished off by Reynolds in the corner, 10-0 to the hosts.

The second part of the first half saw Blackburn come into the game, the pace was slowed somewhat and their hefty pack went to work. The visitors were able to piece a number of phases together and in a matter of minutes they were able to score two quick-fire tries. Lymm were right to be aggrieved towards the end of the first half after a strong driving ball led to a try in the corner, which was wrongfully judged to be held up- the consolation, a penalty kick from Baker bringing the half time score to 13-12.

A number of penalties for both sides in the second half saw a sin bin a piece. Whilst Lymm repelled a number of dangerous Blackburn attacks with some impressive defence, they were also able to prevent Blackburn dominating in the scrum and held a decent platform against a much larger pack. Once on the front foot, Lymm were able to get into the shape that has served them well so far this season, and Josh Hamer finished off another fine move in the corner – 20-12. Blackburn quickly reacted to make it 20-17 off the back of a number of penalties and poor defending from the hosts.

Spectators began noting how dangerous Lymm were when spreading the ball into the wide channels, so to finally see this paying dividends in the final 10 minutes of the game was a delight to the home support. A number of penalties in the red zone were bravely defended by the visiting men, but the pressure finally gave way with some fine hands through the forwards, finished off by Nick Ashton to bring the score to 25-17.

Another try came shortly after from another penalty in the opposition 22, this time it was taken quickly by Anderson, he fed the ball to Makin who was able to use his footwork to avoid advancing defenders and spread the ball wide allowing Ryan Brown to dot down in the corner after some fine footwork of his own. The final try came from some great counter attacking play. Lymm disrupted the opposition lineout, which was a theme throughout the afternoon led by Connelly, Dickinson and Watson. From the set-piece turnover, the backline were able to break the line and Freeman slotted Ben Thompson through a gap and with 40 metres to the line, Thompson was able to fend off a number of covering defenders to gallop over in the corner.

With these 3 tries, the game was put beyond Blackburn and Lymm registered the win and 5 points, placing them 3rd in the table after 4 wins and 1 loss. Next up is a trip to south Manchester to take on Burnage where Lymm look to continue their winning streak.

Head Coach Peter Millachip was understandably delighted post-match – “It was a fantastic win over a side that did the double over us last season. As a side we need to keep building on the momentum we have generated so far this season, by training regularly as a team.”

Team: 1. Ben Thompson, 2. Rob Makin, 3. Sadge Kakaie, 4. Ben Polec, 5. Sam Dickenson, 6. Matty Connelly [VC], 7. Will Higgins, 8. Joe Watson, 9. James Anderson, 10. Tom Baker [C], 11. Jorge Reynolds, 12. Rory Riddell, 13. James Kimber, 14. Paddy Jennings, 15. George Anderson, 16. Nick Ashton, 17.  Josh Hamer, 18. Ash Freeman, 19. Ryan Brown.

Match Report – Rob Makin