Barnstaple 19 – 12 Lymm
1st Team Match Report | Saturday December 6 2025
Lymm lose in Devon but leave their mark
Lymm travelled to Devon this weekend for a first ever encounter with Barnstaple (or Barum – pronounced Bare-um – as the locals refer to their town) another club with a proud heritage, having been founded 149 years ago. Promoted to National 2 last season, Barnstaple are enjoying a dream start to the season, at kick-off sitting 3rd in the table, one place above Lymm and boasting an unblemished home record.
Lymm again rang the changes to their squad, largely enforced due to unavailability or injury, with Dylan Hodkinson and Jack Reynolds both available again and Matt Hill, Rory Cartlidge, Alex Mukherjee and Cormac Nolan making their first starts of the season. It was especially pleasing to see record points scorer Nolan back in the squad after more than 2 years out following recuperation from knee surgery. Indeed, it was somewhat noteworthy that whilst the Lymm bench boasted 225 previous appearances between them, 215 were down to one player!
The weather and pitch conditions for the match were challenging. With North Devon having experienced plenty of rain in the previous week, the grass was long and the going definitely heavy! The wind was strong and gusty blowing down the pitch and with the light rain inclined to turn into a heavy downpour with little notice, it certainly was going to be a difficult day to play expansive rugby.
Lymm kicked off playing into the strong wind. The kick was held up in the wind and Callum Morris soared magnificently to poach the ball from out of the clutches of the Barnstaple forwards. Lymm were immediately on the attack and were quickly rewarded with a penalty. A quick tap caught the Devonians on their heels and Lymm were quickly knocking on their tryline. Nothing resulted but Lymm were awarded another penalty. A kick to the corner was the obvious next move for Lymm but, unfortunately, the Barnstaple winger was able to stop the ball from reaching touch and Barnstaple were able to clear their lines. A few phases later and Joe Heaton made an excellent break towards the Barnstaple 22, before offloading to Tom Manaton who, with one man to beat, had Ste Pilkington on his shoulder to run in under the posts – but the final pass didn’t go to hand and a fantastic opportunity to register the first score was lost. Less than 10 minutes in and it had been all Lymm, but how important would these two lost chances prove to be come the final whistle?
Over the next phase of the game, it became clear that lineouts were going to be difficult for both teams as throws were often deemed not straight or missed their mark. Lymm were able to thwart a number of Barnstaple attacking rolling mauls and with both defences looking solid, the scoreboard remained redundant until the 22nd minute. Lymm were awarded a penalty for a high tackle about 35m out from the Barnstaple line. The ever-alert Manaton took a quick tap and having breached the first line of the Barnstaple defence off-loaded to Paddy Jennings who ran in unopposed from 22m to score under the posts. Reynolds easily added the extras. 0-7 and first blood to Lymm.
Lymm then got back onto defensive duty and absorbed all that Barnstaple could throw at them until the 30th minute when from a relatively unthreatening ruck 25m out from the Lymm line, the Barnstaple flanker Viliame Kotobalavu picked up and emerged through the middle of the ruck to run in virtually unopposed to score 5m to the left of the posts. There were some protests from Lymm to the referee that the scorer had picked up the ball from an offside position, but these fell on deaf ears. The simple conversion by Jacob Murphy brought the sides back to parity. 7-7.
Two minutes later and the try scorer was shown a yellow card for a technical offence, but Lymm were unable to make their numerical advantage count. Indeed, it was the Devonians who registered the next, and last score, of the half. Lymm had played the conditions well, kicking judiciously and infrequently, predominantly keeping the ball in hand. However, a speculative kick over the Barnstaple defence was gathered by fullback Henry Sellick in his own half who, spotting acres of unguarded grass put in a kick which found touch in the Lymm 22 for a 50-22 and an attacking line-out for Barnstaple. Whilst Lymm defended the resultant rolling maul well, the momentum was now with Barum. Play crabbed across the pitch towards the posts, getting closer to the Lymm line with every drive until second-row Matt Gohl was able to reach the whitewash for a try converted by Murphy. 14-7 after 38 minutes.
Half Time: Barnstaple 14 – 7 Lymm
Having played against the elements for the first 40, although frustrated to have succumbed to that last score, the Lymm travelling support certainly felt that there was more than a 7-point advantage to the conditions, and so believed that, at this point, psychologically, Lymm had their noses in front.
As it turned out the second half was a stop-start affair, with neither side enjoying any sustained momentum and defences dominating proceedings. This dynamic wasn’t helped by some long injury breaks – with Lymm’s Max Ure, Hill and Joe Senior all leaving the field at some point to receive treatment – and a 10-minute period of truly, diabolical weather. Two Barum players then received yellow cards in quick succession but before Lymm could seek to capitalise on their 2-man numerical advantage were themselves reduced to 14, when Morris was carded for pulling back a Barnstaple player off the ball. From the resultant penalty, and amidst the worst of the weather, Barum managed to construct an efficient rolling maul which, this time, Lymm were unable to diffuse and Barum’s hooker, Albert Stretch, emerged from the bottom of a pile of bodies as the scorer of what proved to be the winning try. Although the conversion was unsuccessful, after 60 minutes the home side were now two scores ahead. 19-7.
As the game progressed Lymm were creating more and more half-chances, with excellent breaks at various points by Hodkinson, Lightbown, Ure, Josh Hadland and James Pitcher all threatening the Barnstaple try line. A 20m rolling maul looked as if it had done the trick, but just fell short, and then Manaton squeezed over in the left-hand corner only for the Assistant Referee to rule that he had stepped into touch in the act of scoring.
Then, on 76 minutes, Lymm scored the try of the match. Securing the ball from a line-out on halfway, Lymm quickly moved the ball across their backline. Slick handling and the extra man created when Morris entered the line, opened up a slight overlap on the left-hand flank. Taking the ball 22m out, young Mukherjee, in only his second appearance for Lymm’s 1st XV, showed considerable maturity, skill and pace to exploit the opportunity and beat-off the desperate Barnstaple cover defence, to score in the lefthand corner. Although Nolan’s conversion attempt from wide out missed the mark, Lymm were now back in losing bonus point territory and, with 3 minutes left on the clock, potentially had the chance to improve on that.
Shortly after the restart Lymm were awarded a penalty on their own 10m line. With the wind on his back, Heaton aimed to put his kick deep well into the Barum 22, so increasing the pressure that the next phase would put on the Devonians. Unfortunately though, a slight misjudgement and the ball went dead rather than into touch, killing off this last opportunity for Lymm. The final whistle went shortly afterwards, and both teams left the field to considerable applause from the large crowd in appreciation of the considerable effort that all 40 players had exerted in a hugely attritional and competitive match.
Full Time: Barnstaple 19 – 12 Lymm
After the match, Director of Rugby Adam Fletcher commented:
“We played the conditions in the 1st half really well and probably created more chances than Barnstaple. I thought we were unlucky to be behind at halftime. The wind and underfoot conditions continued to worsen as the game progressed. Unfortunately, after the break we couldn’t find our attack shape like we did in the 1st half, and the game became very scrappy.”
“We’re disappointed that we didn’t get the win but the effort on show by all 20 lads was awesome. I’m proud about how we approached the game and tried to play rugby even in poor conditions. It was amazing to see and hear so many Lymm folk who had made the long trip to support the boys…and it did look like a good time was being had by all!”
Team: Ben Lilley (31); James Pitcher* (101); Dalitso Ngoma (9); Max Ure* (7); Dylan Hodkinson (6); Rhys Lilly* (82); Josh Hadland (c)* (69); Oli Higginson* (289); Tom Manaton (35); Jack Reynolds (43); Paddy Jennings* (89); Joe Heaton* (7); Ste Pilkington* (92); Joe Senior* (38); Cal Morris (74).
Bench: Jack Lightbown (7); Matt Hill* (3); Rory Cartlidge (2); Cormac Nolan* (216); Alex Mukherjee* (2).
( ) = number of Lymm First XV League appearances
* Former Lymm Academy/M&J player
Referee: Tom Evans-Jones
Match Report: Andy Leach
Lymm’s next fixture is on Saturday 13th December when they host Cinderford from Gloucestershire at Crouchley Lane, KO 2:30.
Man of the Match
