Lymm 30 – 26 Sheffield Tigers

Just enough in Lymm’s tank against Tigers

A cold, dry Saturday saw yet another nerve jangling thriller play out at Beechwood. On this occasion Sheffield Tigers would be the doughty opponents, pressing for an upset until the very end.

Lymm started brightly, with centre Sam Wadsworth breaking down the middle resulting in a penalty for a high tackle. From the ensuing line out, Lymm gathered for an excellent driving maul, which was both direct and swift. Flanker Josh Hadland was the last man holding the ball, and he dived to score from the back of the maul. Tom Shard’s conversion from a difficult angle hit the crossbar but fell the wrong way. 5 – 0.

Shard was to have another kick at goal soon after. Tigers knocked on the restart kick, Lymm capitalised to gain territory deep in the opponent’s half and set Shard up for the easiest of drop goals. 8 – 0.

Any delusions that this free scoring start would lead to an easy win were immediately dispelled, as Tigers gathered their own kick, and quickly won a penalty for off-side. Crisp play saw them find space on the wing where they scored with a strong run. Conversion was good. 8 – 7.

The Sheffield men would be the next to threaten, and after a couple of Lymm errors including a kick straight to touch, they were able to break Lymm’s defence. The drive was held up however, and Lymm then went immediately into an attack of their own.

A penalty allowed them to kick to half way, and from the line out Wadsworth again made a huge run straight down Tigers centre, weaving his way 25 metres to score under the posts for a trademark score. It was converted by Shard, 15 – 7.

The Yorkshiremen of course came right back and scored again, through their own iteration of the long distance maul. Converted well, 15 – 14.

Lymm would come right back again, a kick through by Morris bounced awkwardly, bamboozling the Tigers full back. Lymm chased it, kicked it onward and Shard gathered 8 metres out to score on the left wing. The conversion was missed, 20 – 14.

Sheffield’s next attack was around 20 phases long, but the quality of Lymm’s line speed was to frustrate them. Consequently the visitors began to kick earlier in their offence, looking to find space behind their opponents.

Tigers too displayed their metal defensively, with thunderous tackles forcing Lymm knock- ons in dangerous territory, and the final score of the half was a Lymm penalty which Shard kicked for the 3 points.

Half Time: Lymm 23 – 14 Sheffield Tigers

The second half would be a wild ride to the end. Tigers came out with clear intent, making yards into Lymm half from the off, they had a lineout maul repulsed, but won a penalty near Lymm’s try line. Quick thinking saw them tap and go, driving over to bring the score to 23 – 19. Conversion missed.

There then followed a messier period of play, with both defences provoking the attacking side to force and over-elaborate their offence. Both lineouts began to become wobbly too. However, for all the grunt, Tigers had struggled to establish further possession in Lymm’s half. When they did get there however they were clinical.

Lymm were being penalised increasingly, and two offences in a row saw Tigers have a lineout 15 m from the Lymm line. A second irresistible maul saw them take the lead for the first time, and the conversion took the score to 23 – 26.

The levels of anxiety, in a title race where to win is not enough, with every try bonus point vital, were palpable around Beechwood.

The players were throwing the kitchen sink, dish washer and Smeg fridge at their opposition in a furious attempt to capture that last vital score. Time after time they made in-roads into the visitors’ red zone, only to be undone by knock-ons, poor decisions, and in one gut- wrenching moment dropping the ball in the act of scoring.

A buccaneering Nathan Beesley run, through, around and over the Tigers defence resulted in a turnover a yard short of the line. Another attack was knocked down by the Tigers centre, provoking howls of “deliberate knock-on “, and “penalty try, card!!”.

However the referee did not see things the same way and a simple penalty was to suffice.

It was to be flanker, Seb Kelly, who would give Lymm the score they needed. A more measured attack had seen them advance deep into Tigers 22.

Less hurried than in the dozen previous thrusts they found Kelly a bit of space to exploit. He bullishly took on the Tigers defence and scored on the wing. 28 v 26. Shard again converted. 30 – 26.

There would be no further score despite Lymm continuing to hammer at the still effective Sheffield defence.

Full Time: Lymm 30 – 26 Sheffield Tigers

Lymm therefore remain equal top of the league with Leeds Tykes on 70 points and very much in contention for promotion.

Director of Rugby Adam Fletcher was as pragmatic as ever: ‘Great to start 2025 with a 5 point win but it probably wasn’t the performance we wanted.

‘We were rusty and impatient with and without the ball. We need to train and prepare well this week if we are going to come away with 5 points at Harrogate.’

Head coach Andy Davies added: ‘A tough start to 2025 against a well drilled Sheffield Tigers team. We gave away too many penalties and this created a stop-start game which resulted in us not being at our free-flowing best. But we still managed to get the try bonus and 5 points against a very good and experienced Tigers side, and that is what matters.’

And Forwards Coach Mark Williams concluded, ‘We expected a physical contest against Sheffield Tigers and that’s exactly what we got. I think it’s fair to say that it was a far from convincing performance from our end, but ultimately we snuck 5 points.

‘We’ll be putting in the hard yards as coaches and players over the course of this week, to ensure that we put in a much more cohesive performance at Harrogate next Saturday.’

Many thanks also to the referee Daniel Woods and his Assistant Refs Paul Hill and Simon Lazenby.

Team: Ben Lilley (12); James Pitcher* (82); Matty Hand* (122); James Yates * (125); Ben Thompson (42); Seb Kelly (9); Rhys Lilly* (64); Josh Hadland* (51); Cal Morris (53); Tom Shard (144)* Paddy Jennings* (67); Ste Pilkington* (78); Sam Wadsworth* (31); Jack Stride (23); Nathan Beesley* (82).
Bench: Samir Tahraoui (15); Rob Makin* (79); Joe Higgins (17); Isaac Millachip* (7); Jack Reynolds (30).

*Denotes Graduate of Lymm Colts Academy
() Denotes appearances for Lymm First XV

Match Report: David Fernyhough