After a week spent in the comfortable surroundings of Crouchley Lane, Lymm are once again back on the bus this weekend, adding more miles on the now only too familiar tarmac of the M6 and M5, as they travel to play Old Redcliffians from Brislington, near Bristol.  This match with Old Reds, who were founded in 1918 by former pupils of Redcliffe Boys School (founded in 1571) returning from service in World War One, representing yet another venture into uncharted territory for Lymm.

As we are finding with many of the new clubs we are encountering this season, there are many similarities between Old Reds and ourselves:

• Both clubs have a similar ethos as, to quote from the Old Reds website “The club has a strong Junior section and is proud of the fact that the majority of its senior section is made up of players they have developed over a number of years. As well as providing players for our senior section we have also provided players who have played at a higher level.” – a statement that could easily be made about Lymm.
• Both clubs played in the John Player Cup in the 1980s with Old Reds hosting senior club London Scottish, whereas Lymm entertained Wakefield.
• In relatively recent times, two Old Reds former players have represented England – Gareth Chilcott and Ellis Genge; matching our own two England internationals – David Strettle and Alex Mitchell.
• National 2 is the highest level at which both clubs have played, Old Reds having reached this level in 2017/18, slightly earlier than we did in 2022/23.

As far as this season is concerned, although Lymm (20 pts – 7^th) are currently a few places ahead of Old Reds (13 pts – 13^th), on paper there appears to be little between the teams.  Both have played 5 identical fixtures (Luctonians (A); Chester (H); Redruth (A); Loughborough Students (H); and Camborne (A)) with Old Reds aggregated score across these fixtures of 125-145 not being too dissimilar to Lymm’s 156-141.  Particularly eye-catching are their 52-21 home demolition of our near neighbours Chester, and last Saturday’s visit to Camborne where Old Reds held a 12-10 lead after 45 minutes, before succumbing to the league leaders.  Buoyed by 2 bonus point wins in their last 2 home matches, Old Reds will, no doubt be confident of doing a home double over the Cheshire contingent in this league – and, with almost three-quarters of the matches played so far in National 2 West resulting in a home victory, not many neutrals will be betting against that.

However, Lymm will travel in good spirits for what is the final match of the toughest block of fixtures of the season, with this match being eighth consecutive Saturday of challenging fixtures – 5 of which have been on the road.  Next week there is a well-deserved rest week ahead of the next, much shorter, block of 3 matches.

Lymm’s match day squad shows 4 changes from the previous week with the experienced Rhys Lilly, Oli Higginson, Cal Morris and Dan Hunter returning to the squad, replacing Canada-bound Sam Wadsworth and Max Ure, Dylan Hodkinson and Joe Higgins.  In addition, first starts have been handed to Jack Lightbown and Joe Heaton.

For those wanting their rugby nearer home both the 2nd XV and the Eagles are at home:

2nd XV v Rossendale KO 3pm

Lymm Eagles v Moore KO 3pm