Blackburn 2nds 83 – 26 Lymm 2nds

Lymm travelled to Blackburn for this return fixture, following their home victory in October. It was the first game for 5 weeks and pitch conditions were surprisingly good considering the amount of rain in the morning.

Lymm kicked off down the slight slope with the wind behind them and it wasn’t long before they scored after sustained pressure on the Blackburn line with James Pitcher diving over  for a try from short range with Josh Bate converting, 0-7. However Blackburn soon responded, when good straight running pierced the Lymm defence for them to score a converted try, 7-7. Almost immediately they were on the attack again making ground easily through their big forwards and scored another converted try, 14-7. Things were looking ominous for Lymm but from the kick off an interception from Josh Bates resulted in a try which he converted, 14-14. Blackburn continued to dominate and scored two more tries one of which was converted, 26-14. Lymm came back capitalising on Blackburn mistakes to score a good team try from Jorge Reynolds in the corner which Josh Bates converted from the touch line, 26-21.

Blackburn had dominated the gain line and the breakdown but Lymm took the opportunities presented to them. To have a chance Lymm needed to improve their tackling and intensity.
Ht 26-21.

The second half started disastrously as Blackburn scored twice immediately from kick offs , Lymm did score a try through Finn Murphy but the rest of the half was one way traffic as Blackburn scored at will.

FT 83 – 26

Lymm will need to regroup next week and look at the positives from this game and improve the areas that let them down.

In the forwards James Pitcher Joe Dowdeswell and Finn Williams did their best to stem the flow and in the backs Ryan Brown ran with determination and pace when he had the opportunities.

Squad: 15. G Anderson, 14. J Freeman, 13. R Brown, 12. E Dobbs, 11. J Reynolds, 10. J Bates, 9. J Anderson. 8. B Polec, 7. J Dowdeswell, 6. F Williams, 5. F Murphy, 4. H Baldwin, J Widdrington, 2.J Pitcher. 1. I Deers, Reps: S Kakaie, J Hamer, A Scotsman

Match Report: Malcolm Pritchard