Lymm 41
Vale of Lune 7

Lymm entertained Vale at Beechwood in what would be their 4th encounter of the season with Vale winning the first 3 and Lymm were keen to prevent a clean sweep. Conditions were blustery with a strong wind blowing across the pitch but underfoot it was firm.

Lymm gave debuts in senior Rugby to Harry Ratcliffe and Harry Aird, who form part of our successful senior colt’s side.

Vale kicked off and Lymm took the game to them. However in what was become a feature of the first half, Lymm knocked on to give possession to Vale. Vale tried to capitalise on Lymm’s errors but stern defence kept them out with Jack Harper and James Lewis to the fore. The one part of the Lymm game which was functioning well was the scrum with the front row totally dominating. This kept Lymm in the game when they made errors but after 25 mins, scrums went uncontested as Vale lost a prop.

Vale pressed hard but Lymm continued to defend well but they still tried to play too much Rugby in their own half and not taking advantage of the wind. It was from one of the rare phases in the first half, that they scored the only try of the half. Jake Davies made a good break which was carried on by the forwards and from a ruck 5 metres out Harry Aird slipped a reverse pass to the charging James Sherlock who was unstoppable and Josh Davies converted. The rest of the half was played in midfield with both sides making errors but committed in defence.

Ht 7-0

Coach Peter Millachip stressed the importance of playing the game in the Vale half and keeping the pace of the game up.

The players heeded his words well as a different side appeared in the second half to control field position with good kicking and chasing and retaining possession. It was after good play with the ball moving from side to side that James Lewis received an offload from Josh Davies and put Jake Davies in for an unconverted try. Almost immediately after the restart, Lymm kicked the ball deep into the Vale 22 and from the resulting line out James Lewis stole the ball and rampaged over the line beating two defenders.

Lymm were now well on top controlling possession and keeping Vale pinned in their own half. It was after another bout of good passing that Richie McEvoy forced his way over for another unconverted try. To their credit Vale never gave in and after a missed tackle in midfield they stormed through to score a converted try.

Was this the start of the Vale comeback? Jack Porteus had other ideas. Using his considerable size and ungainly running style to beat three defenders on a 20 metre run to the line, which Josh Davies converted. Lymm continued to press and it was from a 5 metre scrum captain Will Baldwin deservedly charged over for another converted try. They say leave the best for last and this was certainly case in this game, as young Harry Aird spotted a gap at a ruck 60 metres out and set off outstripping the initial defence. When he reached the full back he showed the experience of a veteran winger as he stood the full back up and out paced him to score an excellent individual try to finish the scoring for the day.

This was an excellent team performance with good defence throughout and in the second half Lymm produced one of their best halves of the season. There were many good performances with James Lewis yet again outstanding and James Sherlock having his best game of the season with his ball carrying making good yards every time.

In the backs Jake Davies ran well and Harry Aird never took a backward step, showing a good eye for a gap.

Next week it’s the semi-final of the cup with a tough game at Preston but if they play like this should be a good encounter.

Teamsheet