Hinckley 36 – 15 Lymm

Lymm Show First-Half Promise Despite Hinckley Defeat

After a thrilling home win last weekend against Hornets, Lymm travelled to Leicestershire to take on a Hinckley sidewho were flying high after a tight away win on their travels to Redruth.

On a misty, chilly but dry autumn afternoon, the travelling Lymm supporters arrived in good spirits, confident that their side had what it would take to come away with a positive result.

There were several changes from last week’s win, with the return of Sam Dickenson to the second row, and Logan Byrne and Jamie Cope to the bench. After a fine performance against Hornets, Harry Wasdell moved into the back row in place of Josh Hadland, who himself replaced the injured Callum Morris in the unfamiliar 13 shirt, a sentence no Lymm supporter would have expected to read at the start of the season!

Lymm started the game superbly, and it would set them up for an impressive first-half performance, with Wasdell claiming the Tom Shard kick-off. A series of strong carries led to Hinckley giving away a penalty, and Shard’s excellent kick to the corner was capitalised on by the efficient Lymm maul, with centre James Hampson joining the action and scoring the try by the left touchline. Five minutes in and 0-5 to Lymm.

Hinckley managed to maintain possession in the Lymm half after kick-off, in what would become a pattern over the next 20 minutes, but a defiant Lymm defence after a scrum free kick saw Hinckley held up over the line.

After trading knock-ons and scrum penalties, Hinckley kicked to the corner and, although the lineout was overthrown, managed to build some tight phases around Lymm’s tryline. With defenders sucked in, the ball was moved to the left touchline for Hinckley’s first score of the day. 5-5 after 25 minutes.

Once again, Lymm capitalised on the kick-off, this time with some strong defence which forced another penalty, which Shard kicked to the corner. This time the maul was dubiously broken up, before an offload was adjudged to have gone forwards as Lymm edged toward the Hinckley tryline. However, Lymm came back again, and after another broken-up maul, they moved the ball from touchline to touchline before James Pitcher burrowed over the tryline to give Lymm the lead once more. Shard converted to make the score 5-12.

A minute of carnage ensued after the kick-off, with some good Lymm possession resulting in a Shard chip-and-chase, which was hacked into the Hinckley 22. The defender did well to regain possession for the home side but was turned over by a hungry Lymm chasing pack. As the ball was moved wide, a Hinckley defender stuck out an arm and knocked the ball on, deliberately enough for the referee to show a yellow card. Shard converted the penalty into 3 points right in front of the posts and Lymm were full of confidence.

After a few minutes of aerial ping-pong, Hinckley gave away a penalty for a high tackle. Shard kicked to touch, but the lineout was called not straight, resulting in a scrum around halfway to Hinckley. From the set piece, a simple chip popped up into the Hinckley centre’s waiting arms, and a straightforward 2-on-1 was executed well for a score under the posts. This score just before half-time was something Lymm would live to regret, and the timing of this will have been frustrating given similar scenarios in recent weeks.

After another turnover at kick-off, a missed drop-goal attempt sent Lymm into half-time 12-15 up. Lymm had been clinical when they had the ball in Hinckley’s 22, and although the home team had controlled most of the possession throughout the half, the Lymm players had defended staunchly, and the faithful on the sidelines were optimistic about what the second half would bring.

Half Time: Hinckley 12 – 15 Lymm

Lymm came back out onto the floodlit pitch and secured the kick-off and a Tom Manaton box kick, followed by more solid defence in the Hinckley half, got the half off to a good start. However, the tide of the game was about to turn.

Lymm gave away a penalty in defence, and the resulting Hinckley lineout led to a series of phases and the home side edged toward the Lymm tryline. Several carries from the back of the ruck later, and the try was scored. The kick was missed, but Hinckley were now in the lead with a growing confidence and the home crowd behind them. 17-15.

Lymm’s kick-offs were a strength throughout, with Wasdell and Rhys Lilly proving safe in defence and a threat when chasing. This time, Lilly got his hand to the ball first and knocked it back toward the men in green. However, a Hinckley player had read this, and burst onto the knockdown at speed, before some quality offloads saw the backline find space behind the Lymm line. The final pass looked destined to result in a breakaway try, but the left winger spilt the ball on the 22, and Lymm were given a reprieve.

The next 10 minutes offered Lymm some chances to swing the momentum back in their favour, but a mix of missed lineouts and penalties led to more pressure in their own 22. Once again, after seven or eight phases of picking from the back of the ruck, Hinckley forced their way over for the try, which this time was converted under the posts to make it 24-15.

Lymm’s chances of a positive result were diminishing with the fading light. On the hour mark, a confusing sequence of events started with a dropped pass from Hinckley, which was hacked through towards their own 22. It was kicked through again into the in-goal area, leading to a chase for the ball, which ricocheted around before a Lymm player touched it down. However, the referee had spotted something in the build-up and awarded a Lymm penalty on the 22, to the confusion of the Lymm sideline.

After some swapping of possession, an overthrown Lymm lineout gave Hinckley some front-foot ball, and a series of offloads allowed them to score a good try in the left corner. The conversion was made to edge Hinckley further ahead, 31-15.

Some more good defence from Lymm, epitomised by Hadland, who acquitted himself well in his unfamiliar backline role, was undone by unforced errors. This became the story of the second half: Lymm showed signs of threat but never had the sustained territory and possession to trouble the improving Hinckley side.

A quality piece of back-row play from Cope, when Hinckley were again looking dangerous, gave Lymm a penalty and a subsequent lineout around halfway. However, a wayward chip through gave the Hinckley centre space on the right wing, and with the aid of some tired tackling, he finished well in the right corner. 36-15 with 5 minutes to go.

The final minutes followed the script of the second half, with the last play of the game seeing Hinckley competing well with the Lymm lineout and forcing the ball into touch to end the game.

Full Time: Hinckley 36 – 15 Lymm

Lymm played some exciting rugby and produced some even better defence, so they will try to take the positives of the first half away from their trip to Leicestershire, as they look to climb the table in the lead-up to Christmas.

After the game, coach Andy Davies shared his thoughts:

“I thought we were excellent in the first half today; we defended brilliantly and won the territory battle. We probably didn’t capitalise on that territory because we were a little one-dimensional in attack. Credit to Hinckley, who came out in the second half, put the pressure back on us, and scored quickly. We’ve got a couple of big games coming up, so a huge squad effort is needed at training to right some wrongs.”

Lymm will look to bounce back as they welcome Cinderford to Crouchley Lane next Saturday, who, like Hinckley last week, have just enjoyed a narrow win over Redruth.

Team: Ben Lilley (52); James Pitcher(cc) (122); Matty Hand (144); Sam Dickenson (21); Nathan Ovien (7); Harry Wadsdell (9); Finn Williams* (10); Rhys Lilly* (103); Tom Manaton (57); Tom Shard(cc) (175); Joe Heaton (29); James Hampson (8); Josh Hadland* (84); Will Hitchen (5); Alex Muckherjee* (10).

Bench: Logan Byrne (8); Joe Higgins* (47); Max Ure* (20); Jamie Cope (7); Alfie Simpson* (62).

Match Report: Cormac Nolan