LYMM will head to the north east to face Billingham on Saturday buoyed by a win at home to Preston Grasshoppers.

Thanks to the all-weather surface at Crouchley Lane, Lymm’s 46-22 success against Preston survived the arctic conditions and was the only game in National League Two North to be played.

It was a commanding performance which ended a three-game losing streak and leaves Lymm in 10th place.

Lymm director of rugby Adam Fletcher was pleased to see the troops deliver on pre-match plans.

He said: “The task we set the lads this week was to start and end fast.

“The last few games we have seen teams come back at us in the last 20 minutes.

“It was really pleasing to see a positive impact from the bench and the boys take the game away from Hoppers.”

Lymm got their noses in front right from the kick-off, with young Lymm prop Ralph McEachran juggling his catch before selling an outrageous dummy and sprinting home from halfway.

“Ralph gave us the perfect start, it was great to see him at full tilt and finish the try from 50 metres out,” said Fletcher.

“I thought all the squad played well and positively impacted on the game.

“We are in good spirits and looking forward to the match against Billingham.”

Tom Shard, who rotated with Cal Morris between the scrum-half and stand-off positions, had an almost perfect day from the kicking tee and also crossed for two tries.

He booted Lymm 10-0 in front with a penalty and then took advantage of a mix-up at the base of the PGH scrum to intercept and wander over unopposed for the second try.

PGH eventually woke up and Lymm found themselves on the end of several penalties that led to the visitors pulling a try back.

Lymm were sparked back into life by a break from flanker Harry Martin and, soon after Nathan Beesley marked his first start of the season by going over in the corner, the bonus-point try came from another walkover by Shard for an interval lead of 29-5.

Warrington Guardian: Tom Shard touches down his second try for LymmTom Shard touches down his second try for Lymm (Image: Tim Martin)

Centre Steve Pilkington benefited from a charge-down to go over for a score that wiped out Hoppers’ try-scoring start to the second half, ending home fears of the comfortable lead slipping away.

On 60-minutes PGH crossed in the corner but as before Lymm responded almost immediately with Pilkington bullocking his way over.

Shard completed his 26-point haul with a penalty before PGH recorded the last score with an almost carbon copy of Lymm’s first of the game.

Lymm: Ralph McEachran, James Pitcher, Matty Hand, Ben Thompson, Gav Woods, Sean Callender, Harry Martin, Rhys Lilly, Cal Morris, Tom Shard, Paddy Jennings, James Kimber, Steve Pilkington, Nathan Beesley, Jack Reynolds. Replacements: Jordan Widdrington, Rob Makin, Joe Johnson, Joe Senior, Andy Williams.