Stockport 3rds 19 – 20 Lymm Eagles

Eagles Show Spirit to Edge to Victory

Lymm Eagles made it 6 wins on the bounce to continue their winning start to the season with a narrow victory away at Stockport 3s.  This was the Eagles sternest test of the season so far and the game was played at a ferocious pace, with neither side backing down from the challenge right until up to the final whistle.

Following last week’s surprise break after the postponement of the Buxton match, the Eagles were keen to get back in action away at Stockport.  With such a good start to the Eagle’s season, the lads were keen to maintain their winning run.  However, with this match falling within the half term holidays, the Eagles were hit with a large number of absentees.  15 players who had pulled on the shirt this season were unavailable.  Notable absences included half back pair Chris Kinsey and Alan Reddecliff, pack enforcers Jack Harper and Jez Ure, whilst top try scorer Rick McEvoy was enjoying thimbles of beer on the beach.  To top off the absentees, Captain Olly Brown pulled his calf in the last game and then worsened it chasing children around a field (refereeing an under 14s game I should say) which meant he was also unavailable and left to be a very angry spectator.

However, it was not all doom and gloom as Lymm were still able to field a competitive squad.  Stu Norman and Oli Chesworth made their first appearances of the season, whilst at the other end of the age range, senior colts Ethan Carroll and Oscar Stone made their first senior rugby appearances from the bench.  Forwards Max Ure and Dave Coon returned after missing the Wilmslow game, with Dave taking the captains armband in Olly’s absence.  The atmosphere at Stockport’s Headlands Road ground was really jumping, with 3 senior teams at home and a sizable audience choosing to watch the 3^rd team game.  It was also good to see former Eagle turned referee Johnny Cartwright refereeing on the adjacent 1^st team pitch.

The game kicked off and Stockport set out at a fierce pace, with the Eagles caught short in the first few minutes.  Desperate defence and a few well timed turnovers kept the Eagles from conceding early.  Lymm managed to wrestle some control and good drives from Matt Grellier and Kieran Williams got Lymm up the pitch.  However, the Lymm forwards were being forced to chase the ball all over the pitch, and were struggling in the rucks, allowing Stockport to steal several balls.  Lymm received their first warning of the afternoon from the referee, not for any of the players on the pitch, but to on-looking Captain Olly, whose vociferous coaching of his squad and running commentary of the ref’s performance was not appreciated.  He was asked to confine himself to the non-existent technical area along with the subs. The Lymm set piece was really being tested, with the scrum creaking on several occasions and the lineout a random lottery depending on who was the unfortunate victim chosen to throw in, with no one really wanting the job.  It took until the 20^th minute for the scoreline to be troubled.  After a good break by Reece Forrest into the Stockport 22, a quick play down the blindside from Martin Henderson fed 2^nd row George “Ringo” Harrison, who managed to brush off two tackles to go over for a try, converted by Rhys Jones (0-7).

Unfortunately Lymm then lost George a few minutes later when he had to attend a family emergency which necessitated a bit of on pitch juggling of positions.  Stockport were stung into action and turned up the intensity.  Lymm met this with some crunching tackles.  Unfortunately, an over excited tackle by Max Ure was deemed to be high and with a level of aggression judged to merit a yellow card.  With the main lineout operator missing, Stockport took advantage and kicked for the corner.  From the resulting lineout, a rolling maul was set up and the Stockport hooker broke clear to go over in the corner for an unconverted try (5-7).

Lymm introduced Ethan Carroll in the back row and Oscar Stone in a hybrid backrow/scrum half role.  Immediately, they brought some much needed pace to the game with some sharp, incisive runs.  It was from a break from Carroll, interchanging passes with Simon Beards, that Stockport were penalised for not releasing just outside the Stockport 22.  Having seen how hard it was to score points this half and with only a few minutes left for the 14 men on the pitch, Lymm opted for a shot at goal, with Rhys Jones converting the penalty (5-10).  Lymm managed to see the rest of the half out without incident.

Half Time: Stockport 3rds 5 – 10 Lymm Eagles

The half time message from the onlooking Brown was to pick up the pace of the game.  With Lymm being too slow in attack, it was easy to be picked off by the large Port pack, and the few chances Lymm had created were all off the back of quick possession.  Winger Ash Caffrey was brought on to inject some more pace.

The 2^nd half kicked off with much the same intensity as the first.  Lymm looked a lot better with the ball in hand and tried to up the intensity of the game by taking quick tap penalties when opportunities presented themselves.  Craig Capewell and Mike Clarke were coming more to the fore in carrying the ball.  However, the big, mobile Stockport forwards continued to make an impact and were working extremely hard at the breakdown, with a very vocal crowd enjoying the award of several consecutive penalties for them. Eventually on 60 minutes, this pressure told and from a turnover on halfway, Stockport broke down the left and managed to feed their winger, who went over in the corner for a converted try to take the lead (12-10).

With Lymm behind for the first time in the match, the next score was crucial.  This occurred a few minutes later.  After more solid work from Jim France and Olly Chesworth to set up a platform, the referee penalised Stockport for not rolling away and Lymm again opted for a kick.  Whilst usually seeing kicking penalties as an act of cowardice, even this scribe (very old school) had to admit that sometimes, they do add some excitement.  Rhys Jones slotted the kick (12-13).

Both teams were throwing everything at each other, but both defences were good and held firm.  Lymm relied heavily on the boot of Jones to clear several dangerous moments, whilst the back three of McKean, Norman and Liam “Sully” Sullivan were excellent under the many high balls that Stockport were now launching.  Unfortunately the pressure eventually told and from a scrum in the middle of the park, Stockport broke off the back and their fast centre got round the defence to go in under the posts for a converted try on 68minutes (19-13).

Lymm had 12 minutes to rescue the match and pressed hard for a victory.  Again, good work from the forwards laid a great platform, with Matt Grellier and Craig Capewell getting through a ton of work.  Unfortunately, the game suffered many stoppages for the almost comical reason of running out of match balls, with several having been kicked into next doors garden.  However, this seemed to help Lymm more, who used the few minutes break to get some air back in the lungs (although this scribe was sure he saw Olly Chesworth sneaking a drag on a cigarette from a friendly spectator on the sidelines!).  Once a ball was finally recovered, Lymm worked it into the Stockport 22.  After several Lymm charges were strongly repelled, Rhys Jones spotted some space out wide and, channelling his inner “Reddecliff” kicked an inch perfect cross-field kick. The Port full back clearly expected the ball to bounce out of play but was bamboozled as the ball bounced straight into Josh McKean’s hands who then sailed over in the corner for a great try, crucially converted with an excellent kick from Jones on 72 minutes (19-20).

With still 8 long minutes left to see out, Lymm pushed hard for another score and having been awarded a penalty in front of the posts, opted for a kick despite shouts from an unnamed person (Olly Brown) on the sidelines to run the ball.  Unfortunately, the kick was dragged just wide. Stockport chucked everything at Lymm in the last few minutes, but a series of crunching tackles first from Williams, who did his best to cut the Stockport centre in half, followed by a pair of last ditch tackles from Winger McKean and full back Sullivan stopped several Stockport attacks. Eventually, Lymm were awarded a penalty just as the referee shouted last play. A quick tap from Jones who then booted the ball off the pitch, brought a huge sigh of relief from the Eagles players and supporters.

Full Time: Stockport 3rds 19 – 20 Lymm Eagles

An excellent victory for the Eagles, who I think knew that they could have performed better, but showed real character and fight to wrestle a victory in the final 10 minutes when it could have been easy to give up and blame the absent players.  The referee was very complementary to both teams after the game for the work rate and good spirit in which the game was played.  A massive thank you to Stockport, who provided a good opposition and were a great set of lads.  We wish you well for the rest of the season.  The atmosphere on the patio area after the game was really good and full of typical rugby banter.

A few shouts for man of the match.  Special mentions this week go to Ethan Carroll and Oscar Stone, who provided some much needed pace to the game and settled into their first games of Eagles rugby with a great deal of confidence.  Kieran Williams showed again that he is just a ball of muscle with some powerful carries and some excellent tackling.  Simon Beards showed his experience to marshal the defensive efforts in the backs.  Man of the match though goes to fly half Rhys Jones, who was involved in everything today.  His distribution was accurate and got Lymm on the front foot, whilst his kicking from hand got Lymm out of trouble consistently, whilst his touchline conversion won the game for the Eagles.  Well done, Rhys.  A final special mention must go to Ash Caffrey, for his impressive 6ft fence vaulting to go and rescue the match balls from next door’s garden.

Dick of the day unfortunately goes to this scribe, who kept giving the wrong scores on the WhatsApp updates to the absent players.  However, please forgive a 72 year old, mobile phone illiterate, technophobe who was tripling up jobs of linesman, chief water boy and scorekeeper, it proved to be one job too many!! Back to the pen and paper next week!

A nice change of pace next week as the Eagles welcome Wallasey 1s in the last 16 of the Cotton Traders Bowl.  This match organisation has been given over to the very capable hands of Martin Henderson, who has worked very hard to build a squad containing solely Lads and Dads in what we are sure will be a very proud moment for a lot of family and friends.  Unfortunately, this scribe is not available for the game next weekend, but I am sure my co-author David will prove a very acceptable (probably better) replacement to provide a report of the day. 1:15pm kick-off at home.

Team: 1) Olly Chesworth 2) Jim France 3) David Coon (C) 4) George Harrison 5) Mike Clarke 6) Matt Grellier 7) Kieran Williams 8) Max Ure 9) Martin Henderson 10) Rhys Jones 11) Stu Norman 12) Simon Beards 13) Reece Forrest 14) Josh McKean 15) Liam Sullivan REP 16) Craig Capewell 17) Ash Caffrey 18) Ethan Carroll 19) Oscar Stone

Match Report: Pete & David Coon