Lymm 2nds 79 – 35 Macclesfield 2nds
2nd Team Match Report | Saturday March 5 2022
LYMM COMPLETE DOUBLE OVER MACCLESFIELD
Lymm 2XV completed a season double on Saturday, with a home win against Macclesfield 2XV, to follow up their away victory back in November. Whilst Lymm had a full squad to call upon, Macclesfield only had 14 players, so thanks to them for travelling and turning out for a competitive game.
Lymm gave senior debuts to 18 year old prop Soheil Kahai and back row Harrison Krippner. These two along with other youngsters Juan Chang, Dalton Frith, Will Higgins and Ben Polec, show that the conveyor belt of junior players coming through the club to play at senior level is still extremely strong and the work being done by the coaches in the junior sections must be some of the best in the North West. At the other end of the age spectrum, a last-minute call for a prop was answered by club stalwart Dave Coon, who has now played around 300 games for the 2s, 3s and 4s (and 5s) of Lymm over the last 15 years and must be thanked for his continuing effort to be available each week. This completely unbiased comment has nothing at all to do with the fact that he is my son!
Lymm played the 1st half with a good game plan of several phases in the forwards creating space for their dangerous, fast backs to run through the gaps. Unfortunately, with such a high scoring game, the names of the all the try scorers could not be noted, but a significant contribution came from hooker Stewart, who scored off the back of a lineout maul. The back three of Reynolds, Jennings and Philips were constant threats with their pace taking them over for several tries and Dalton Frith at scrum half was a real menace with his snipping runs and quick tap penalties. The half time score was 38-0 and all seemed well. All credit to Macc who gave a good account of themselves and their scrum had the ascendancy throughout the match, even with only 7 men in it!
In the second half, Coach Tom Bray, standing in for the absent Pete Millachip, rotated the pack and backs to give everyone at least half a game, but this meant that some players had to play in unfamiliar positions. Macc had also lost a winger to a shoulder injury. Rather than continuing to play short and with the final result in little doubt, Captain Baker showed great character and sportsmanship in agreeing to lend Macc two players. Massive thanks to Ben Polec and Toby Phillips for stepping up to the mark and offering to play for Macc.
This made the 2nd half a lot more competitive with Macc proving the better side for a lot of it. Lymm seemed to turn off the gas appearing to believe that they could just go through the motions and still win. Macc started a bit of a comeback with a well worked try touched down in the corner by loaned player Phillips on the wing, who then repeated this performance 5 minutes later. Unfortunately, bickering among the Lymm players spilled over into moaning at the referee, who had a good game but wasn’t standing for any back chat. This led to Lymm spending a lot of time in their own 22 and a yellow card for Kahai. From a 5m scrum, Macc’s back row crashed over to score and it seemed that the comeback was on. Lymm finally wrestled control back and further tries from Jennings, McEvoy and Mike “Double Decker Bus” Ince kept Macc at bay. Pick of the other tries came from prop Kahai, who steam rollered his way over the line for what is hoped to be the first of many to come. To their credit, Macc never gave up and Toby Phillips even completed his hat trick for them. In the last play of the match, McEvoy went over for a final try to end the match.
FT 79 – 35
With news of the 1st team also completing a double victory over Macc, Lymm could celebrate a double – double this season for the 1s and 2s. Whilst the 2s can celebrate this victory, Captain Baker hit the nail on the head in his post-match team talk, “We became complacent in the 2nd half and our attitude was not great when things got tough. The teams in this league are too good to allow that to happen again”. On the day, Lymm 2s played well and at times showed flashes of brilliance but also let themselves down with some disrespectful comments about the opposition and the standard of the match. That’s not really what Rugby is about!! ‘Play up, play up and play the game’
No game for the 2XV next week, but the 3XV are at home to Northwich 2XV, KO 3pm if you want to support the teams outside of the 1XV
1) Soheil Kahai 2) Alex Stewart 3) Dave Coon 4) Sean Boyce 5) Ben Polec 6) James Pitcher 7) Kieran Williams 8) Matt Grellier 9) Dalton Frith 10) George Anderson 11) Paddy Jennings 12) Tom Baker (C) 13) Richard McEvoy 14) Jorge Reynolds 15) Toby Phillips 16) Will Higgins 17) Juan Chang 18) Harrison Krippner 19) Reece Forrest 20) Mike Ince
Match Report: Peter & David Coon