Lymm 2nd 31 Warrington 2nd 7

AN under-strength Warrington second team made an unceremonious exit from this year’s BESTS Jug competition with this comprehensive loss to a heavier, more experienced Lymm side.

Fielding a very young team, Warrington were up against it from the kick off, as Lymm made use of their two-to-three stone-per-man advantage up front to rule all phases of possession.

Ironically, Warrington could have scored first when, after excellent approach work, they forced a penalty 30 yards out but Luke Wood’s kick was blown wide by the very strong wind.

However, the power of the Lymm pack eventually allowed them to combine and complete a good rolling maul with a try which was converted.

Warrington could well have cut the Lymm lead when a signature weaving run from Tom Arnold was brought to an end ten yards out by a tackle which could have been judged high by some referees but the momentum was lost.

Lymm then started to make good use of their endless possession forcing Warrington onto the back foot and relentless pressure eventually saw them score again with a second rolling maul, to make the half time score 12-0.

The second half saw Warrington’s energy slowly sapped as they were forced into a game of constant tackling, while fighting for scraps of possession.

Paul Grant and Jon Bennett did not flinch in their front row duties but even they could not overcome Lymm’s enormous weight advantage.

Two more rolling maul tries resulted, one of which was converted, before Lymm scored an excellent backs try when their inside centre scythed in under the posts to allow an easy conversion.

However, the last word belonged to Warrington when their young back row hassled the opposition half backs at a scrum ten yards from the Lymm line.

Possession was snatched and two excellent offloads eventually saw Luke Wood exploiting a gap and crashing over.

The conversion came from Andy Almond.

“This was probably a case of men against boys, as the weight and experience of the Lymm pack proved decisive.” said skipper Andy Almond.

“But I was pleased by the way our young lads stuck to it and even managed to get on the scoreboard before the end.”