Camborne 43 – 31 Lymm
1st Team Match Report | Saturday October 4 2025
Lymm earn deserved bonus point on their longest trip
A mere 2 weeks had passed since Lymm’s previous away fixture at Redruth, but at 5pm on Friday evening, a young Lymm squad boarded the coach to return to Cornwall, this time to take on unbeaten Camborne, the strong ante-post favourites to win the league title.
The inevitable impact that these long trips have on players who play for the “love of the game” is that, in addition to the usual injuries, there will be unavoidable absences for personal or work related reasons – hence why so much store has been placed this season by the Lymm coaching team on building a broader squad of players capable of competing at this level. Just 5 matches in and the depth of Lymm’s squad is already being tested, such that the squad on Saturday showed no fewer than 8 changes from the previous outing, with the late withdrawal of talismanic, experienced No8 Oli Higginson, due to an injury in training, being the last, enforced, change. Whilst the changes included the return of vice-captain Josh Hadland and a first start of the season for experienced hooker James Pitcher, there were also three debutants in Max Ure, Dylan Hodkinson and Lewis Stewart. So far this season Lymm have used 33 players and “blooded” 9 debutants.
Storm Amy landed in Cornwall early on Saturday morning bringing high winds and frequent heavy rain or hail showers. However, by the 2pm kick off, the rain had passed through just leaving the teams having to deal with the fierce wind blowing down the pitch. Lymm had the wind on their backs for the first half and the impact that the wind would have on the match was soon apparent as the early exchange of kicks demonstrated, with the ball either being held up in the air or sent deep down the pitch. A long kick by Lymm took them into Camborne’s 22 in a seemingly, good position – but the Camborne full-back Kyle Moyle, spotted a chink in the advancing Lymm defensive line, making 20m before finding support players who linked well to outstrip the Lymm defenders and send prop forward Tommy-Lee Southworth scampering over just to the left of the uprights. Josh Matevesi added the extras to put the home side ahead 7-0 after 2 minutes. Unfortunately, in the lead up to the try Camborne forward Chris Heazelton sustained a serious leg-injury which ended his participation in the match.
Lymm certainly had their moments in these early exchanges, showing that they had the potential to cause problems for the Cornishmen. Both teams were showing attacking intent but were frustrated as inevitable errors, a consequence of the challenging conditions, halted progress. On 12 minutes, Camborne worked the ball through their backs from right to left, but the ever-alert Sam Wadsworth intercepted on halfway and was able to put his boot to the ball, sending it deep into unguarded Camborne territory. This allowed Lymm speedster Nathan Beesley to outpace the covering Camborne defenders to score under the post. Tom Shard’s simple conversion brought the scores back to parity, 7-7.
2 minutes later and it looked as if a reprise was on the cards when a dropped ball by Camborne on halfway was booted through by Lymm, almost to Camborne’s tryline. This time, however, a defender was first to the ball and able to secure possession. A couple of phases later and Camborne, spotting a mismatch on the left flank, broke through the Lymm defensive line and, three passes later speedy winger Alex Ducker outpaced the cover defence to score under the posts for a converted try. 14-7.
With Lymm now being penalised a little too often, the opportunity presented itself for Camborne’s prolific try scorer, hooker Ben Priddey (121 tries from 111 appearances!) to score his first of the afternoon – a trademark catch and drive from an attacking lineout. The conversion was unsuccessful and, a few minutes later, Shard slotted an easy penalty opportunity. 19-10 after 23 minutes.
On 31 minutes, Lymm had an attacking lineout 20m from the Camborne tryline. Whilst the lineout was lost, Lymm forward Dalitso Ngoma was quickest to react to the bouncing ball, securing possession from which slick handling by the Lymm backline put fullback Jack Reynolds into space. Reynolds arced round the Camborne defenders before unleashing an inch perfect pass to winger Paddy Jennings, who took the ball at pace to score 5m in from the left-hand touchline. Shard’s excellent conversion brought the score to 19-17.
Unfortunately for Lymm, and shortly before halftime, it was Camborne who got the important next score, when they too showed the handling ability of their backline, with wing Ducker finishing an excellent move to register his brace.
Half Time: Camborne 24 – 17 Lymm
The sense at halftime was that, given the challenge that the elements would pose for Lymm in the second half, that last Camborne score may well have taken the game away from the visitors. However, as Lymm had competed well throughout the first 40 minutes and the potential for errors in the conditions, anything was possible.
However, Camborne then moved up a gear. With a dominant scrum securing a series of penalty awards, Priddey scored his second of the match, converted by Matavasi. 31-17 after 45 minutes.
Another catch and drive from an attacking Camborne lineout, was successfully dealt with by Lymm; however, the resultant Lymm lineout then failed to go to hand, gifting a try to replacement prop forward, Ben Stevens-Woodmansey. 36-17 after 55 minutes.
Finally, a slick move across the backline then created an opportunity for replacement winger Frank Nowell to find space on the left flank and scoot over for a try, well converted by Will Hennessy. 43-17 after 66 minutes.
Lymm could now easily have capitulated, but regrouped and, aided by the introduction of “fresh legs” from the bench, started to make inroads into Camborne territory whilst also turning the tide of penalties which had previously been heavily against them. A kick to the corner, gave Lymm an attacking lineout, from which an attempted front peel came close but was forced into touch. In a play very similar to the try Lymm had given away 16 minutes earlier, Camborne messed up their resultant throw with the ball ending up in the grateful arms of Pitcher, who ran in unopposed from 5m. Shard’s successful conversion made the score 43-24 after 71 minutes.
Lymm, who were now realistically just chasing a fourth try bonus point, began to move the ball with greater purpose and were making more yards with ball in hand – especially memorable was a bullocking run by debutant Stewart. Then, as the final whistle approached, Reynolds made a half break down the left, finding Stewart in support. An inside ball to Sean Callander, had the flanker bearing down on the tryline, but realising the Camborne defence was likely to catch him short of the line, lobbed a speculative pass back in field where Tom Manaton managed to get his left foot to the ball and deftly volley the ball infield, completely wrong-footing the final defenders. Manaton was then able to easily touch down by the uprights for the all-important fourth try. Shard converted and the referee’s whistle went for fulltime.
Full Time: Camborne 43 – 31 Lymm
So Lymm can now look back on their two, early season, trips to Cornwall with considerable pride. Although neither was a win, to return with 2 bonus points against experienced, powerful and well drilled sides is no mean achievement. I’m sure that our Cornish hosts would have appreciated both the performances of their Cheshire visitors and the level of travelling support. We look forward to hosting both Redruth and Camborne at Crouchley Lane in early 2026.
After the match, Head Coach Andy Davies, commented:
“I thought there were some brilliant performances against a very strong Camborne team. We had a young pack out there who showed incredible fight all game.”
“The resilience and desire from the boys to get ourselves back in the game and get a bonus point at the end certainly made the long journey home a lot sweeter!”
Team: Ben Lilley (24); Rob Makin* (92); Dalitso Ngamo (5); Sam Beahan (4); Dylan Hodkinson (1); Max Ure* (1); Sam Wicks (4): Josh Hadland* (62); Callum Morris (69); Tom Shard* (152); Paddy Jennings* (82); Sam Wadsworth* (44); Jack Stride* (30); Nathan Beasley* (94); Jack Reynolds (37).
Bench:James Pitcher* (94); Jack Lightbown (2); Lewis Stewart (1); Sean Callander (19); Tom Manaton (28).
( ) = number of Lymm First XV League appearances
* Former Lymm Academy/M&J player
Referee: James Milliner-Woodcock
Lymm next head to Hinckley in Leicestershire (almost a local derby!) on Saturday 11th October, KO 3:00.
Match Report: Andy Leach
Man of the Match:
