Wirral 37 Lymm 28

'ATROCIOUS' discipline cost Lymm in a National Three North Division defeat to at Wirral on Saturday, according to coach Adam Fletcher.

Wirral gained promotion to this league two seasons ago and, after a period of adjustment, are now more than capable of holding their own in this very competitive National Three North Division.

Lymm, without a few key players, continue to be fractious and indecisive, resulting in a patchy performance that had defeat written all over it from early on.

Wirral's first try came from a strike against the head 25 metres  out.

The ball was moved slickly to the right where the score in the corner gave the home side a 5-0 lead.

Wing Corman Nolan then missed a penalty in front of the sticks and, having been humiliated in the scrum, the Lymm pack then shoved Wirral backwards.

This scrum dominance however was an illusion, particularly when number eight Adam Bray was sin-binned after 17 minutes.

Wirral took full advantage and from a line out scored again three minutes later, duly converted.

Despite the benign conditions the first half was almost wholly played in the Lymm half, including a couple of serious leg injuries to Wirral players, notably the domineering fly half.

Lymm's play lacked both cohesion and precision with Lymm being penalised time and again particularly at the break down.

Any momentum from Lymm was halted especially when the cries of pain from the second leg injury halted play and a potential try-scoring opportunity for the visitors.

Loose kicking from Lymm then allowed Wirral to run back and good hands gave them a third try making it 17-0.

This seemed to wake up Lymm, who gained some continuity at last, as they moved the ball through several pair of hands from left to right, and centre Richard Halford went over for right wing Nolan to convert, making it 17-7 at half time.

From the kick-off Lymm seemed intent on taking the game by the scruff of the neck only to be kicked deep back into their own territory due to a late tackle by back row by Kieran Williams.

The next scores were going to be important but they came from Wirral in quick succession, in the form of two, very similar forward-oriented tries near the posts making it 31-7.

At this point the visiting crowd gave up all hope of a win, but to their credit, Lymm players refused to.

Sustained pressure from the visitors, with back row Ashall and second row Lythgoe prominent, meant they went close a number of times but were held up over the line.

From the resulting five-metre scrum Mark Wells on the left wing burst over in the left corner which scrum half Tom Shard expertly converted from wide out.

The referee continued to thwart good build up from Lymm, particularly penalising a suspect forward pass that the crowd, in line with play, questioned vociferously.

From an attacking line out, run efficiently all afternoon by Wirral, a penalty was awarded edging Wirral to a 34-14 lead after 66 minutes.

With nothing to lose Lymm threw the kitchen sink at the hosts and began to play with flair and intent.

Tom Bray, after great build up play, eventually scored wide out on the left which again Shard converted well.

Smelling blood, and possibly redemption, Lymm went through too many phases to count for hooker Dan Horton to crash over with five minutes left, with reserve and former colt Oscar McCormack showing good form.

Shard again converted and, at 34-28, Lymm at the very least had two bonus points in the bag.

The superb pick and drive game continued from Lymm until they were caught isolated in possession.

The penalty gave Wirral a concluding 37-28 winning score, much to the relief of the home crowd, and losing Lymm a bonus point.

Coach Adam Fletcher said: “Penalties kill any momentum and our discipline, at times, was atrocious.”

Team: J Widdrington, D Horton, N Ashton, A Rasheed, Z Lythgoe, K Williams, J Ashall, A Bray, T Shard, O Lancaster, C Nolan, T Bray, R Halford, R McEvoy, J Knowles. Reserves: M Auden, M Wells, O McCormack.

Lymm seconds beat Rochdale 46-8 in the Raging Bull North West Premier League.

However their slick handling and inter-play between forwards and backs were well below par as too many passes went astray or were mishandled.

The first 15 minutes of the match were evenly matched until a Lymm 20-metre rolling maul was stopped 10 metres short of the try-line by a Rochdale forward, clearly coming in from the side and preventing more forward motion which may have resulted in a try.

For his sins, the Rochdale player was yellow carded.

Lymm then began to gain the advantage which resulted in fly-half Rhys Jones converting an excellent 35-metre penalty from the middle of the pitch following an off-side decision.

On 25 minutes an equally-excellent drop-goal from the Rochdale fly-half from 25 metres levelled the score.

Almost immediately, Jones replied for Lymm with a penalty from 20 metres following another off-side.

Lymm's forwards continued to gain the upper-hand on their counterparts and on the half-hour prop Rob Makin made a 25-metre break, releasing supporting full-back Andy Rowley to score near the corner.

Jones excellently converted again from the tight angle.

Shortly before half time, sustained forward pressure released number eight Greg Robertson to score from a 20-metre break for Jones to convert.

Rochdale upped their game at the start of the second half, only for Robertson to make another break kicking through for the supporting scrum-half Tom Baker to chase down and score near to the corner.

Within minutes a Rochdale line-out on Lymm's five-metre line was caught by their jumper, and seeing a gap in the Lymm line he ran through to score an unconverted try.

There was always a possibility of a Rochdale resurgence, but this was denied when their second-row was yellow carded on 60 minutes for dissent against the referee.

From this point onwards Lymm's backs began to click, with centre Jack Warton scoring two converted tries on 70 and 75 minutes, and Greg Robertson scoring his second try supporting a good break from centre Chris Owens. 

Team: K Broadbent, R Makin, O Askew, A Halford (C), J Yates, J Harper, O Thornton, G Robertson, T Baker, R Jones, C Harris, C Owens, J Warton, R Forrest, A Rowley, S Mahony, J Long.