Lymm 33 – 47 Tynedale
1st Team Match Report | Saturday February 8 2025
Clinical Tynedale burst Lymm’s bubble
Lymm entertained Northumbrian side Tynedale at Crouchley Lane on Saturday. Having narrowly prevailed in the reverse fixture back in October and boasting an undefeated run at home of more than 12 months, with Lymm sitting 2nd in the league it would have been reasonable to place Lymm as favourites for this encounter. However, scratching below the surface it was clear that 6th place Tynedale were themselves enjoying a purple patch, having won 7 and drawn 1 of their last 9 matches. This together with a much changed starting XV for Tynedale compared with the previous encounter suggested they would pose a serious threat.
From Lymm’s perspective there were the inevitable personnel absences, compounded by the Friday night withdrawal of skipper Nathan Beesley and Samir Tahroui through illness/injury. The resultant squad changes from last time out saw Oli Higginson back from injury with Toby Wilson and Ethan Kermode also returning.
Lymm kicked off and started brightly, quickly getting their hands on the ball and looking full of purpose. In the first minute Ste Pilkington looked to be through, only to be dragged down by a last-ditch tackle. Lymm maintained the pressure though and a penalty award was kicked to the corner with Rob Makin emerging as the scorer as the Lymm rolling maul trundled over the try line. Tom Shard missed the conversion from wide out. 5-0 after 4 minutes.
In their past couple of matches after having scored and taken the lead Lymm, have been guilty of failing to deal with the restart well and, as a consequence, allowing their opponents to get on the front foot. Over the next few minutes the feeling of déjà vu was palpable as Lymm knocked-on from the restart only then to be adjudged to have played the ball from an offside position. The resultant penalty was kicked to the corner giving Tyne’ an excellent attacking platform. Whilst Lymm diffused this initial threat, a clearance kick to midfield was collected by Tynedale who spread the ball wide creating space for their winger to make good yards down the right-hand touchline to within 5m of the Lymm line. The recycled ball found its way into the hands of hooker Harrison Wood who forced his way over to score. Fullback Cameron Grant, who kicked like a dream all afternoon, added the extras. 5-7 after 10 minutes.
5 minutes later and Lymm were back in front. From a scrum on the Tynedale 22, Lymm executed a slick back move with Toby Wilson making good ground before linking with blindside winger Andy Williams who was stopped 5m out. A couple of phases later, and Rhys Lilly was able to stretch out to dot down, 15m in from the left-hand touchline. Shard’s conversion made it 12-7 after 15 minutes.
Tynedale then took their turn to score, adding their second try when hooker Wood scored once more, this time from a rolling maul. Grant converted from wide out. 12-14 after 20 minutes.
Tynedale then broke the sequence of tit-for-tat exchanges. Declining the opportunity to take the three points on offer presented by a simple penalty awarded in front of the posts, Tynedale took an attacking lineout, from which flanker Charlie Turnbull forced his way over close to the right-hand touchline. Grant’s excellent conversion made the score 12-21 after 25 minutes.
As the half progressed Lymm finally managed to get some good ball and field position but couldn’t break down the Northumbrian defence. Taking the ball just inside his own half Cal Morris went to kick behind the onrushing defence, only to see his attempt ricochet off a Tynedale player and head at a rate of knots towards the Lymm line. The frantic chase that followed didn’t go Lymm’s way as the alert Tynedale centre, Will Roberts, was first to touch the ball down to the satisfaction of the officials. This gave Tynedale their bonus point try. Unsurprisingly, Grant converted. 12-28 after 37 minutes.
Lymm now needed some inspiration to rebuild momentum – and it came on the stroke of half time from Lymm Man-of-the-Match Paddy Jennings. Taking the ball on halfway, and with all roads forward seemingly blocked, he elected to take “route one”, barreling over one defender, bouncing off a couple more before seeing the path to the try line open up in front of him. As he was hauled down a yard short Jennings, sensibly, decided not to stretch out and risk losing control of the ball, instead going to ground allowing Morris to force his way over between the posts as the ball was quickly recycled. Shard added the simple conversion.
Half-Time: Lymm 19 – 28 Tynedale
As is often the case in these tight encounters, it was inevitable that the first score of the second half would be massive. Whilst the hopes of the Lymm faithful were high that the score just before half time was a sign of things to come, Tynedale had other ideas and proceeded to dominate the next 11 minutes both on the field and on the scoreboard – adding 3 converted tries in quick succession. The common theme across these tries was purposeful running; slick, largely error-free, handling; and clinical finishing. Roberts added his second try of the afternoon sandwiched between 2 for winger Alex Dryden. Remarkably, Grant missed one of his three conversion attempts. 19-47 after 51 minutes.
It would have been easy now for Lymm’s heads to drop, but to their credit they started to get back in the game and had very much the better of things in the remaining 29 minutes. Lymm created plenty of opportunities, but execution fell someway short of what we have come to expect this season which, coupled with never-say-die defending by Tyne’, frustrated Lymm’s efforts for large parts. Lymm scored their fourth, bonus point, try on 60 minutes when James Pitcher forced himself over following a rolling maul, Shard adding the extras. 26-47.
Later, running the ball from deep in his own 22, space was created out wide for Morris which set him on a path to the Tynedale line. When it seemed Morris was bound to score an outstanding try, Tynedale’s covering blindside winger’s desperate last ditch tackle managed to dislodged the ball. Lymm did score a fifth try with the last play of the match. Another strong run by Jennings set up the field position and a couple of phases later a classy pop-pass by Lilly allowed Ben Thompson to gallop over unopposed from 22m. Again, Shard converted.
Final score Lymm 33 – 47 Tynedale
Reflecting on the match, Director of Rugby Adam Fletcher commented:
“Tynedale were excellent. They pounced on our mistakes and punished us. There were a couple of big swings in the game that we were on the wrong side of. Tynedale were certainly good value for the win. It was positive that we scored the last two tries and should have scored another one – that showed good character.”
“The boys will have to show even more character this week as playing at Otley is always tough – but I’m confident we can bounce back and get the 5 points.”
Team: Ben Lilley (14); Rob Makin* (81); Matty Hand* (124); James Yates* (c) (127); Ben Thompson (44); Rhys Lilly* (66); Oli Higginson* (278); Josh Hadland* (53); Cal Morris (55); Tom Shard* (146); Paddy Jennings* (69); Ste Pilkington* (80); Toby Wilson (5); Andy Williams* (25); Jack Reynolds (32).
Bench: Joe Higgins (19); James Pitcher* (84); Ethan Kermode (10); Isaac Millachip* (9); Tom Manaton (14).
Referee: Nathan Howarth
Match Report: Andy Leach