Lymm 72 – 28 Hull Ionians

Imperious Lymm sign off in style

Hull Ionians travelled to Lymm on Saturday, the fixture drawing to a close a momentous season in Lymm’s 65-year history.  With 3^rd place in the league already assured and perfect conditions for running rugby, the large crowd bristled with expectations of an entertaining afternoon.  The Lymm squad to a man did not disappoint.

With Lymm’s bad run of injuries now in the rearview mirror, the Lymm coaching team were able to make consistent selections from last time out with the only changes being the return from injury of Rob Makin and Ste Pilkington and a first start for 19-year old Alex Mukherjee, himself replacing 19-year old Will Day in the squad.  His dad said that Alex had been coming to Lymm since the age of 3, and pulling on a Lymm First XV shirt was, indeed, the achievement of a long-held ambition!

Lymm did not start off as they would have hoped, conceding penalties and making errors whilst in possession which stopped them building any momentum in the opening exchanges.  Indeed, at this stage, it was the Yorkshiremen who looked the most businesslike, being positive with ball in hand and keen to play with quick ball at every opportunity.  On 5 minutes, from a line-out 30m from the Lymm line, Ionians served up a move which seemed to catch Lymm napping where, rather than keep the ball in the forwards, they moved it quickly to break the Lymm defensive line such that a simple inside ball to supporting flanker James Sanderson, allowed him to run in virtually unopposed, for a converted try.  0-7.

Although Lymm were still not quite on their game, they did now manage to have periods of sustained possession with which to test the Ionians’ defence.  On 12 minutes, with play still inside Lymm territory, the ball found its way to 19-year old Isaac Millachip (another who has been a fixture at the club since he was in nappies!), who proceeded to conjure up two outrageous dummies to confound defenders and split open the Hull defence.  Stretching his legs and with one last defender to beat he found scrum-half Tom Manaton in support to run in an excellent try, which Alfie Simpson converted.  7-7.

On 20 minutes, Alfie Simpson added an easy penalty to his tally when Ionians were penalised for a high tackle.  10-7.  Straight from the restart, Hull then got their hands on the ball and, a couple of phases later were themselves awarded an eminently kickable penalty opportunity.  However, they elected to kick to the corner and whilst Lymm appeared to have diffused the initial drive from the resultant line-out, the maul splintered to the left allowing hooker Ben Stephenson to score in the corner.  An outstanding conversion by Lewis Minikin meant that after 24 minutes, the visitors were back in the lead at 10-14.

On the half-hour mark, secured possession from a Lymm scrum in the centre of the pitch near halfway.  The ball was moved at pace to the left allowing Sam Wadsworth to make a telling break and, with one man to beat and the flying Beesley on his shoulder, the outcome was never in doubt.  The conversion by Simpson made the score 17-14 after 31 minutes.  This signaled the start of a 20-minute Lymm purple patch in which they scored 6 tries without reply.

2 minutes later it was Pilkington’s turn to cross the whitewash.  This time, the provider was Paddy Jennings who made the decisive break from halfway, allowing the supporting Pilkington to run in unopposed from 22m. With the conversion successful, Lymm went into half-time with clear water between them and Ionians and the wind well and truly in their sails.

Half-Time:  Lymm 24 – 14 Hull Ionians

It only took 2 minutes for Lymm to claim their fourth, bonus point, try.  From a scrum deep in Lymm territory, Number 8 Rhys Lilly, went on a powerful 20m run, before offloading to scrumhalf Manaton who took play well into the opposition half, before putting through a clever grubber kick behind the Hull defence for winger Jennings to chase.  Whilst the Ionians cover defender got to the ball just ahead of Jennings, the bounce of the ball eluded him, and Jennings pounced to register an unconverted try.  29-14.

Another 2 minutes and the scoreboard was rattling up the Lymm points again as centre Wadsworth scored one of his “specials”.  Taking the ball about 15m inside the Lymm half, he broke through a couple of attempted tackles before rounding the last defender to score. Mukherjee, who had replaced Simpson, failed with the conversion attempt.  34-14.

Two minutes passed and Lymm scored again as Jennings pounced on a Hull dropped pass on halfway to score in the corner for an unconverted try.  39-14.  Next Beesley bagged his brace.  Ionians lost possession on their own 22 and Lymm were immediately on the front foot.  Some slick handing and offloading with Manaton, Makin and Pilkington all heavily involved ended with an inside ball from Pilkington to Beesley allowing the Lymm winger to score under the posts.  With Mukherjee registering his first points for Lymm the score, after 50 minutes had raced to 46-14.

Hull scored next, a relatively simple converted try near the posts for centre Minikin as the Lymm defence had become overstretched.  Straight back though came Lymm with Beesley claiming his hattrick.  Then quite possibly came the try of the match for Lymm as Manaton bagged his second. This was the result of sumptuous offloading and link play involving most of the Lymm backline with Simpson, now back in action having replaced Cal Morris, making a great looping run to outflank the Ionians  defence before providing an inside ball for Manaton to score.  Mukherjee added the extras to both these scores.  60-21 after 67 minutes.

Wadsworth then added his second, bursting through then rounding a tired defence to score from 50m for a converted try.  Finally, the Lymm backs allowed a forward to get on the scoresheet, albeit was a try worthy of any back by Millachip, capping his outstanding shift.  From turnover ball deep in Lymm territory Manaton made a half-break before feeding his flanker whose legs just about had enough left in them to run in from 40m.  Mukherjee this time failed with his conversion attempt.  72-21 with 9 minutes left.

That was the end of the Lymm scoring but Ionians did manage another excellent converted try of their own before the final whistle, scored by scrumhalf Sam Pocklington, to claim a try bonus.

Final Score: Lymm 72 – 28 Hull Ionians

Reflecting on the match and the season, Director of Rugby Adam Fletcher commented:

“What an incredible way to cap off an amazing season.  We were a little shaky in the first quarter, but once we settled into the game, we never looked back.  There were some outstanding performances across the team, and it was fantastic to see Alex Mukherjee make his debut with well-deserved starts for Tom Manaton and Isaac Millachip.”

“Bez wrapped up the season with 24 tries – an unbelievable personal achievement – while Wadsy and paddy weren’t far behind, each pushing close to the 20-try mark.

It’s truly been an unforgettable season.  I’m incredibly proud of everything we’ve achieved and so grateful for the support we’ve had from the Lymm faithful.  The boys have earned a well-deserved rest – there are certainly some sore bodies out there!”

Team: Dan Hunter (14); James Pitcher* (93); Joe Higgins (27); James Yates* (c) (136); Ben Thompson (52); Isaac Millachip* (14); Josh Hadland* (58); Rhys Lilly* (75); Tom Manaton (23); Alfie Simpson* (42); Paddy Jennings* (77); Ste Pilkington* (81); Sam Wadsworth* (39); Nathan Beesley* (89); Cal Morris (64).
Bench: Ben Lilley (19); Rob Makin* (88); Sean Callander (18); Oli Thornton* (4); Alex Mukherjee* (1)

Referee: Sam Yates
Match Report: Andy Leach

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