Otley 31 – 7 Lymm

Lymm hit the buffers at Otley

On Saturday, Lymm travelled to Otley, a place they had yet to register a league win fully aware of the challenge that would lie ahead.  Their task had been made harder by the heavy injury toll sustained in their previous match and the continued unavailability of key personnel, which necessitated 6 changes to the match day squad.  Additions were prop forwards Samir Tahraoui, Dan Hunter and, debutant Matty Banlin; and three quarters Jack Stride, Harry Reay and Alfie Simpson.

With gloomy weather, light drizzle in the air and a heavy pitch it seemed likely that a hard fought, attritional battle lay ahead.  Otley had the bulk of possession in the early stages but the Lymm defence looked up to the task, and when Lymm did get their hands on the ball they had plenty of go forward and urgency.  On 12 minutes, and 40m out Jack Reynolds found a gap in Otley’s mid-field defence and as he went to ground 15m from the try line found Ben Thompson in support who galloped over the whitewash.  Unfortunately, referee Peter Connor had spotted what could only have been the slightest of forward passes and the score was chalked-off.  However, Lymm were now camped in the Yorkshiremen’s 22 and a few minutes later were presented with an attacking line-out within striking distance of the Otley try line.  The subsequent rolling maul allowed hooker Rob Makin to score for the tenth time this season.  Tom Shard added the extras with an excellent touchline conversion.  0-7 after 15 minutes.

On 19 minutes scrum half, Joe Rowntree, opened Otley’s account, slotting a penalty over from in front of the posts.  3-7.

There then followed an extended period of relative stalemate with defences on top and both sides   resorting to the boot to make territorial gains.  Otley did make one telling break, but the Lymm defence scrambled well to prevent the score.  Otley retained possession from the resultant scrum 5m out from the Lymm line but the aggressive Lymm defence and dominant tackling pushed the Yorkshiremen back towards half-way.  When it seemed they were running out of ideas, the ball was moved towards the right-wing but the loose pass failed to find its target.  Unfortunately for Lymm, the broken play situation that this created was the perfect opportunity for the Otley right wing, Sam Taylor to collect the ball and exploit a chink in the advancing Lymm defence, running in virtually unopposed from 40m.  Rowntree then added to Lymm’s pain.  10-7 after 36 minutes.

Back came Lymm who, now enjoying some possession in Otley territory, sought to move the ball through their backs – only for Rowntree to intercept and run in to score from 60m, then converting his own try, in what was to be the final act of the half.

Half-Time:  Otley 17 – 7 Lymm

Lymm would have felt exceedingly hard done to at half-time having shipped 14 points in the last 4 minutes of a half in which their defence had looked solid.  Given the conditions, the half-time instructions from both sets of coaches would no doubt have been something along the lines of “play the game in their half; keep our error count low and capitalise on their mistakes when they make them.”  No one could argue with that plan – the problem though was that Otley executed on this plan far better than Lymm.

From the restart, it was clear that Otley’s tactics were to kick the ball long down the middle of the pitch at every opportunity.  They pretty much won every kicking “duel” and committed far fewer errors than Lymm did under pressure.  The result was that the next 20 minutes were all Otley’s with play largely camped in Lymm territory.  On 47 minutes Taylor got his second score, this time from a crossed field kick after Lymm’s defenders had been sucked in to defending an attack close to their line on the opposite side of the pitch.  10 minutes later and a rolling maul in the same corner allowed prop forward Leon Mudd to score.  Rowntree converted both to bring the score to 31-7 after 57 minutes.

Lymm then had the better of both possession and field position for the remaining 23 minutes but the Otley resolute defence, which seemed to have been emboldened by the excellent 20 minutes they had just enjoyed, caused Lymm’s error count to rise and the quality of decision making deteriorate as the match ebbed away.

Full Time: Otley 31 – 7 Lymm

After the match an understandably disappointed Lymm’s Director of Rugby Adam Fletcher commented:

“We fully expected a tough game and I don’t think we have ever won at Otley.  I thought we managed the first half well and were unlucky to go into half-time at 17-7 down.  The second half was a different story.  Otley completely dominated territory through their kicking game.  We were pushed further and further back and Otley took full advantage.”

“I can’t fault the lack of effort but basic errors have crept into our game.  Every team in the league has the ability and firepower to exploit mistakes as Otley showed today.  The boys have been brilliant all season, I fully expect them to pick themselves up and prepare well for Fylde on Saturday.”

Team: Samir Tahraoui (17); Rob Makin* (82); Joe Higgins (20); James Yates* (c) (128); Ben Thompson (45); Rhys Lilly* (67); Josh Hadland* (54); Oli Higginson* (279); Tom Manaton (15); Tom Shard* (147); Paddy Jennings* (70); Jack Reynolds (33); Jack Stride (24); Harry Reay* (2); Cal Morris (56)
Bench: Dan Hunter (9); Matty Binlin (1); James Pitcher* (85); Ethan Kermode (11); Alfie Simpson* (34).

Referee: Peter Conner

Match Report: Andy Leach