Heaton Moor 2nds 12 – 47 Lymm Eagles

Lymm Eagles Earn Resurgent Victory

Lymm Eagles chalked up another excellent away win this weekend in a strongly contested game against Heaton Moor 2nds.

Lymm had shared a number of close matches with South Manchester based Heaton Moor for the last few seasons, with a fairly equal win/loss record, so were a little unsure of the nature of the opposition they were facing.  In the pre-match warm up Heaton Moor seemed to have a similar range of ages, shapes, sizes and experience as Lymm, so the prospects of a good competitive game were high. Once again, Captain Olly Brown, had managed to do an almost magical job in raising a very decent team despite the usual plethora of late cry offs, unavailability’s and let downs. Jordan Widdrington made a rare and very welcome appearance in the front row, which together with regular prop Dave Coon and Olly Brown, gave a formidable front three with a combined mass of around 60 stone (380kg for those under the age of 40).  Also making welcome guest appearances to bolster both the forwards and backs were veteran players, Nick Girdlestone and Rob Griffiths.

Right from the whistle, Lymm made it clear that they meant business and piled into the opposition with great effect enabling them to win a good deal of the ball.  Unfortunately, there was probably an excess of enthusiasm and unfocussed effort leading to some wild passes and simple handling errors.  Nevertheless, it was only after a minute that centre Alan Reddecliff snaked his way through the Heaton defence for a great individual try.  The accurate boot of Oli Larkin provided the conversion points (0-7). There then followed an extended period of high pressure from Lymm, with the virtually immovable pack providing good ball to the backs through the safe hands of scrum half Kinsey. This allowed winger Tom Coghill to outpace all his chasers and scamper over for a stylish score under the posts after 11 minutes.  On his return to the kick off, Tom respectfully asked for the match correspondent (me) not to mistakenly award any more of his tries to Richard McEvoy as I had apparently done in week 1 (surely not – apologies Tom).

This was followed only 3 minutes later by an absolutely storming run by Rob Griffiths straight through the centre of the field, bouncing defenders left and right to score under the posts.  On his return to the kick off, Rob reminded the correspondent (for the 50^th time) of how to spell his name, as apparently some of the other players said mistakes in reporting were rife (surely not!).  More great kicking by Larkin brought the score to (0-21) after only a quarter of an hour’s play.  It was a tribute to Heaton Moor, that they did not allow the score to dampen their spirits and they continued to pressure Lymm in defence and attack for the next 15 minutes. However, Lymm countered well and it was not long before young Second Row, Max Ure, crashed over for well worked try (converted) in centre field to be closely followed a few minutes later by another through strong running by regular Richard McEvoy (yes, it was him this time) which was not converted and brought the score to (0-33) on the half hour.  Unfortunately, as is often the case when leading by a decent margin, Lymm went off the boil during the last 10 minutes and lost focus which allowed the strong Heaton pack to regroup and smuggle the ball over the Lymm line for a well deserved score (5-33) which remained unchanged to half time.

Half Time 5 – 33

After, strong words of encouragement from Captain Brown during the interval, Lymm started the second half full of enthusiasm. However, now with a score on the board, Heaton Moor attacked the Lymm line with renewed vigour that they had seeming failed to produce in the first half.  For over 15 minutes it was honours even, with both teams trying their best, unsuccessfully, to break through either the forward or back lines.  A long accurate, cross field punt by the Heaton full back, aimed at their speedy winger was brilliantly fielded by Tom Coghill while travelling at pace.  In danger of being overwhelmed by the approaching hordes, without breaking stride, Tom produced a huge, high looping kick across almost the full width of the pitch, turned on the gas to sprint almost 30m and almost effortlessly catch his own kick.  At that speed, no one could touch him, and he continued his sprint almost unchallenged to score a superb individual try.  On his return from the successful conversion, (5-40) the referee spoke briefly to me, simply to say “Wow – you don’t see many tries that good” Well done Tom!

Buoyed by another score, Lymm continued to apply pressure to Heaton whose forwards were starting to creak a bit in the scrum and the line.  The towering presence of Adam Halford in the Lymm line certainly enabled them to compete with the opposition jumpers and he managed to steal a couple of useful lines.  One of these was fielded by the ever reliable scrum half Kinsey who and spun the ball out to the waiting line where winger Liam Kirkham scooped it up and sprinted over the line from a good way out. The conversion by Larkin made the score (5-47) after 60 minutes.

As in the first half, Lymm now seemed to be content to see the rest of the game out at a jog and were seriously taken aback when, Heaton threw everything they had into a driving maul about 10m out from the Lymm line.  Despite the Eagles best efforts to keep them out, Heaton’s forwards pressed on with repeated short range attacks and they were eventually rewarded with a burrowing try under the sticks.  Their successful conversion brought the score to (12-47).

Unfortunately both side were tiring now after a hard fought match and occasional niggles were beginning to creep into the game.  Experienced replacement hooker Nick Girdlestone did well to avoid being drawn into several assaults by handbag, but centre McEvoy was deemed to have seriously overstayed his time on the pitch by repeated lying on the ball and received a yellow card in the last 5 minutes.  Both sides were grateful to hear the final whistle.

FULL TIME HEATON MOOR 2s 12 – 47 LYMM EAGLES

Overall, this was a well contested and well refereed, competitive match, against a team whose make up largely resembled that of Lymm.  In the bar after the game Captain Ollie Brown, said that he was very pleased with the performance and felt that, despite the almost continually changing make-up of the team, it was the first time that they had really gelled and played together as a unit.  Going forward it might be difficult to maintain this momentum without the continued commitment of individuals to turn up and play on a regular basis. Dust off your boots and get down here!

Man of the Match:  Olly Brown (mainly for his efforts in putting the team together!)

Try of the Match:    Tom Coghill

Next week, Lymm Eagles are at home to Hope Valley who are traveling some distance from their Derbyshire home. All very welcome.

Team: 1) David Coon 2) Olly Brown (C) 3) Jordan Widdrington 4) Adam Halford 5) Max Ure 6) Kieran Williams 7) Simon Beards 8) Jon Long 9) Chris Kinsey 10) Alan Reddecliff 11) Tom Coghill 12) Rob Griffiths 13) Rick McEvoy 14) Liam Kirkham 15) Oli Larkin 16) Josh Keefe 17) Nick Girdlestone 18) Jim France.

Match Report – Peter & David Coon