Exeter University 33 – 42 Lymm

Lilly hattrick sets up win for gutsy Lymm

Backing up a very disappointing performance the previous week, Saturday’s away fixture against Exeter University was always going to be a test of the true character of this Lymm squad, who needed to halt the run of poor results, and performances, delivered over the past 3 months. With Exeter sitting just one place below Lymm with 8 points separating the two teams at kick-off, this was a match that both teams really needed to win, to avoid descent into a relegation battle.

With Lymm having won a madcap encounter at Crouchley Lane back in November by only 8 points, and Exeter’s home results so far this season being far superior to their away form, everyone from Lymm (players, coaches, supporters) knew it was likely to be a nip and tuck affair.

The Lymm squad news wasn’t especially encouraging with the expected absences of experienced skipper Nathan Beesley (injured), and James Yates and Jack Stride (unavailable) being compounded by the late withdrawal through injury of talismanic vice-captain, and the season’s standout player, Josh Hadland. To balance this though, the return of the experienced trio of Oli Higginson, Tom Shard and Cormac Nolan and the first appearance after 15 months out with a shoulder injury of Josh Maskery, gave encouragement to the vocal Lymm travelling support who had made the long journey for the match.

The Students’ kicked off and in the very early exchanges, just inside the Exeter half, the Lymm defence looked well-organised, when a thunderous double tackle on an Exeter forward sent the player backwards, dislodging the ball in the process. Unfortunately for Lymm, the ball ended up in the hands of the Exter fly-half Ben Mills, who spotting a gap next to the pile of bodies, cut open the first line of Lymm defence. Showing his pace, the fly half raced into the Lymm 22 before beating the last defender with a pass to his supporting scrum half, James Howard, who raced in to score by the posts. Mills easily added the extras to put the Students ahead 7-0 after just 3 minutes.

Given how recent Lymm matches had unfolded following the early concession of a try, there was some concern on the sidelines that we were about to experience a feeling of déjà vu. However, Lymm had no intention of allowing this to happen and were quickly on the scoreboard themselves. A penalty just inside Exeter territory was put into touch 5m from the Exeter tryline. The line-out ball secured, the rolling maul edged forward and when progress was halted Rhys Lilly took the ball, crossing for a try which Shard confidently converted. Parity restored after 7 minutes.

Back though came Exeter. A penalty award was despatched to touch a few metres from the Lymm line. Whilst the initial catch and drive was halted, the ball was moved infield through the forwards for a couple of phases before being fed to winger Josh Golden-Clark who had wandered in from the left wing to take the ball at pace, bouncing off an attempted tackle before crossing the whitewash. Mills again converted and Exeter were again in front. 14-7 after 10 minutes.

The Lymm scrum was now clearly in the ascendency with frequent penalties resulting. From one of these Shard put the ball into touch on the Exeter 5m mark. The catch and drive was well executed and as it trundled towards the tryline, James Pitcher took the ball to the blindside to score, nonchalantly converted from wide out by Shard. 14 apiece after 17 minutes.

Shortly afterwards, a quick tap penalty taken by Lilly made good yards into the Exeter half. The recycled ball was taken by Cal Morris who chipped it over the first line of Exeter defenders. Chasing down his kick, Morris reached the ball at the same time as the Exeter fullback. Both attempted to put boot to ball with the result that it ballooned up nicely into the grateful arms of Alfie Simpson who ran in unopposed from 20m. Shard again converted and Lymm were ahead for the first time in the match 14-21 after 20 minutes.

Lymm now had their tails up and another penalty award was kicked to touch close to the Exeter line. The predictable catch and drive followed with a seemingly inevitable try for Pitcher converted by Shard. 14-28 after 24 minutes. Lymm now had their four-try bonus point and had put daylight between themselves and Exeter but, as those who have followed Lymm this season know only too well, that can change at the drop of a hat.

A period of relative calm (from a scoreboard perspective) then followed with 9 scoreless minutes being clocked up. Then on 33 minutes, from just outside the Lymm 22, the Exeter centre, Frank Jeffries, broke the first line of Lymm defence before offloading out of the tackle to his prop, Albert Dowse, who, showing an enviable turn of pace, scooted in from 15m to score. Mills again converted bringing the score to 21-28 with only 6 minutes left in the half. Surely, that was going to be the end of the scoring in the half….oh no, far from it!

From the restart, disaster for Lymm. Mills made an outstanding break through the initial defensive line, again showed his pace and then, as he seemed to be being shepherded towards the left touch by the covering defence, made an outrageous inside pass to a support player. Whilst this player was initially halted, Golden-Clark was on hand to gather the ball and race in to score a couple of metres in from the left-hand touch, for an unconverted try. 26-28 after 35 minutes and Lymm’s noses were now only just in front.

Back though again came Lymm with their forwards continuing to dominate as had been reflected in the penalty count throughout the half. Another kick to the corner from one such penalty, and a well-executed rolling maul allowed Lilly to peel off to score his second. Shard’s perfect day with the boot continued and Lymm were now a little more comfortable on the scoreboard at 26-35, ending, finally, the scoring for the half.

Half Time: Exeter University 26 – 35 Lymm

The half time reflections were that Lymm were dominating in the forwards, especially at the set piece. However, the Exeter backs had skill and pace in abundance and had shown that if they were able to break that first line of defence, they were a real threat.

Although much calmer for the scoreboard operator, the second half was far from incident free. The half was only 6 minutes old when Morris had to leave the field with a foot injury, with Tom Manaton slotting into the scrum-half position. On 52 minutes, Exeter closed the gap with a converted try from a catch and drive of their own. Hooker Tyler Bayley was awarded the score, Mills again converting. 33-35 and all to play for….again!

Both sides were now guilty of an increasing error count, meaning that neither side was really able to build momentum and the match seem to be being played almost entirely between the two 22m lines. Then on 59 minutes, the referee, Mr Davies, rather bizarrely (from a Lymm perspective), awarded Exeter a scrum penalty on halfway when their scrum appeared to have disintegrated under pressure from Lymm. The Exeter scrum-half, Howard, took a quick tap down the blindside and, in the attempt to put the Exeter man into touch, there was a clash of heads. After consulting with his assistant, Mr Davies showed a red card to young Lymm prop, Tom Elphick, who had only been on the pitch a matter of 8 minutes. With a quarter of the match still to go, a huge effort would now be needed from the Lymm players to overcome this numerical disadvantage.

Despite being a man down though, it was Lymm who scored next. From a lineout just inside Exeter territory, Lymm secured the ball and, after moving it infield for a couple of phases, Nolan, showing his experience and pace, ran back towards the touchline, creating space before linking excellently with Paddy Jennings. The Lymm winger, who hitherto had seen relatively little of the ball, then set off on one of his trademark runs, confounding and bouncing off would-be defenders and taking play well into the Exeter 22. There he linked with Jack Reynolds, whose dancing feet took him to within a meter of the line, before that man Lilly gathered the ball to crash over the line. Shard’s conversion put Lymm 9 points ahead at 33-42 with 17 minutes left on the clock.

On 66 minutes Lymm were reduced to 13, when Joe Heaton was shown a yellow card for a high tackle. Then, on 76 minutes, just as Heaton’s yellow card was ending, another yellow was shown to Reynolds – meaning that Lymm would have to see out the match two players down. Exeter elected to go for goal from the resultant penalty. The rather ambitious attempt from 5m inside their own half failed, and Lymm were able to clear the ball. Shortly afterwards Lymm were awarded a penalty from virtually the same spot. Shard also went for the points – partly to soak up time – and he too missed. The subsequent 22 drop out was secured by Lymm and, a couple of phases later, on hearing that time was up Manaton put the ball at the top of the highest tree he could see to bring proceedings to a close.

Full Time: Exeter University 33 – 42 Lymm

A tremendous, gutsy performance by Lymm who, to a man, gave their all. Whilst this was as much a team effort as anything else, it would be remiss not to reference the standout performances and true leadership shown by Higginson and Lilly throughout the 80 minutes – they were both truly immense.

After the match, a very satisfied Director of Rugby, Adam Fletcher, enthused:

“An absolutely heroic performance. We did some soul searching in the week and had some good honest conversations. Ultimately though, we had to walk the walk, and the boys certainly did that! Our set piece and maul were class. We did give away a few too many penalties in the 2nd half, which resulted in to us playing the vast majority of the half with 14 men. Given this, to only concede one try in the 2nd half is a testament to how hard the boys worked.”

“It was great to have some travelling support – they definitely made themselves heard!”.

Team: Ben Lilley (39); James Pitcher* (109); Matty Hand* (133); Max Ure* (15); Ben Thompson (66); Rhys Lilly* (90); Lewis Stewart (8); Oli Higginson* (c) (297); Cal Morris (83); Tom Shard* (161); Paddy Jennings* (98); Jack Reynolds (46); Ste Pilkington* (101); Joe Heaton* (16); Alfie Simpson* (53).

Bench: Dal Ngoma (15); Tom Elphick (5); Josh Maskery (6); Tom Manaton (44); Cormac Nolan* (220).

( ) = number of Lymm First XV League appearances

* Former Lymm Academy/M&J player

Referee: Haydn Davies

Match Report: Andy Leach

Lymm’s next fixture is on Saturday 14^th March 2026 when they host Hornets from Weston-super-Mare at Crouchley Lane, KO 2:30.