This Saturday, Lymm’s First XV are backing up last week’s match at Camborne with another road trip – this time to Hinckley in Leicestershire, a relatively local fixture (a mere 94miles/2 hours each way) in this league of crazy travel demands.

The Hornets are not quite the new faces that most of the teams in National 2 West are to Lymm as the two teams did meet twice in the 2013-14 season, when Lymm were level transferred to National League 3 Midlands. These encounters didn’t end well for Lymm, losing both the home leg in November 2013 by a massive 42-7 and the away fixture in March 2014 by a much more respectable 38-33. Current Lymm squad members James Yates, Cormac Nolan, Andy Rowley and DoR Adam Fletcher featured in both fixtures, whilst Oli Higginson and Defence Coach Tom Bray played in the closer of the two encounters. Cormac slotted over a total of 18 points across the two matches, whilst Tom scored one of Lymm’s three tries in the second match. Hinckley have also referenced these past tussles in their match preview and kindly included a few photos of the match at Hinckley, including this one showing, amongst others, a young Oli Higginson in action – well waving his arms around!

From what I can ascertain, at least one member of Hinckley squads from those days, prop Stephen Harvey, is still active in the current squad. In the final league table of that season, Hornets finished 5th with Lymm a couple of places behind in 7th.

Hinckley were established in 1892 and their reputation grew through the 1960s peaking in the 1970s and 1980s when the reached the latter stages of the John Player Cup (older folk will remember this as English Rugby’s premier competition of the time) losing to Leicester Tigers in the last 16 in 1973 and, in subsequent years, to Sale and Northampton. This success was, however, followed by a period of rapid decline which was arrested in the 1990s with the establishment of a thriving Mini & Junior section which produced a conveyor belt of talent (sound familiar?) to propel Hinckley back up the leagues. Hinckley has played at National League 2 since the 2016/17 season, so this represents their 9th consecutive season at this level. They have though travelled a fair bit over this period playing 4 seasons in the North League; 1 season in the South League; and now 4 seasons in the West!

As far as this season goes, given we’re only 5 matches in, let’s face it, it’s far too early to draw too many conclusions. However, Hinckley will probably be disappointed that they presently sit in 13th position in the league. But, to be fair, they have had some tough matches on the road (who would fancy playing at Barnstaple in the midst of Storm Amy?!) and put up a highly credible performance at home against unbeaten Camborne, losing by 10 points in a match they had led into the second half. The Hornets’ one victory came at home against Loughborough Students – hence, as Hinckley have matched Lymm in beating Loughborough Students and losing to Camborne, it feels like a close, competitive encounter is in prospect!

Lymm will travel in a positive frame of mind following their bonus point loss at Camborne, where they showed plenty of guts and resolve against a massively more experienced outfit. The Lymm squad for this match shows 6 changes from last week – again a blend of returning experience (in James Yates, Ben Thompson, Rhys Lilly and Ste Pilkington) and debutants (in Dan McQuade and Joe Heaton). This will bring to 11 the number of debutants Lymm have fielded already this season.

Hopefully, the weather will be kinder than it has been for Lymm’s last two away matches and the pitch will still be in good, early season condition to allow players from both sides to put on an entertaining display for the spectators…..and, of course, a Lymm win!!

Lymm Eagles are away to Winnington Park KO 3pm for those who like their rugby nearer home.