Lymm 7 – 39 Redruth
1st Team Match Report | Saturday October 17 2026
Lymm pay the penalty
On Saturday, Redruth made the longest road trip in the National 2 leagues to play Lymm – their second visit to Crouchley Lane in 2026. The previous match in January had ended in a close 36-31 win for the home side, courtesy of a late converted try. The Cornishmen, who have started this season in fine form and currently sit on top of the table with an unbeaten record, arrived in Cheshire full of confidence with the intent of extending that record.
Lymm, on the other hand, were no doubt still smarting from the shellacking they suffered at the hands of Taunton last time out. The pre-match mood though in the home camp would have been lifted by the presence in the squad of available again Rhys Lilly, Tom Manaton, James Hampson and Harry Wasdell, whilst Matty Hand and Fin Williams were back after a period out injured. Most pleasing though, would have been the return of Rob Makin, who had been sidelined since January. This match was also the 50th in a Lymm shirt for 21-year-old prop forward, Ben Lilley – a tremendous achievement for the young man. On the negative side though, Andy Williams took a knock at Taunton and joined the long queue outside the Lymm physio’s room. Unfortunately, there were two late withdrawals – forward Nathan Ovien, being replaced by Rory Cartlidge, and centre Jack Reynolds, who pulled up in the warm up, resulting in an SOS call to Alfie Simpson who was warming up with the 2s at Fylde – which disrupted Lymm’s preparation.
Lymm kicked off on a fabulous October afternoon under a clear blue sky with a gentle breeze blowing down the pitch. Managing to win the contested ball from the kick-off, Lymm were quickly on the attack. An offence by Redruth in the early exchanges gave skipper Tom Shard the opportunity to click the scoreboard into action, but his usually reliable boot pushed the kick just to the left of the uprights. Back though came Lymm and further penalties presented them with positions deep in Redruth’s 22 from which to attack. The rolling maul from the first was halted just short, after which a Redruth defender managed to beat the Lymm players to ground the ball in the Cornishmen’s ingoal area after Cal Morris’ deft kick. Then a move from a second attacking line out was pulled back for what seemed a vey marginal forward pass. From the resultant scrum, Redruth were awarded a free kick, which was then upgraded to a penalty after some backchat. This allowed Redruth to clear their lines and a further stream of penalty awards soon had them camped in the Lymm 22.
Two rolling mauls were well defended by Lymm, such that on the next penalty, Redruth opted to take a scrum. After a couple of forward drives the ball was moved through the backs where fly half Joe Cummins was able to find sufficient space to reach out and touchdown for the opening score. His conversion missed, but Redruth had their noses in front. 0-5 after 13 minutes.
Redruth had the better of the next period, largely on the back of the field position that Lymm’s regular transgressions handed them. When Lymm did manage to get their hands on the ball, Shard’s precision cross kick was taken by left wing Joe Heaton on the full. The Lymm man then went on a diagonal run towards the posts and into the Redruth 22. With the last desperate Redruth defenders to beat, he seemed caught between going on his own or linking with his support runners, ultimately doing neither as the ball slipped from his grasp, and the opportunity was lost. Redruth were then able to return to the Lymm 22 and construct a rolling maul from which hooker Tom Cowan-Dickie scored. Cummins added the extras. 0-12 after 28 minutes.
The next few minutes were relatively even, albeit heavily punctuated by the referee’s whistle. Then, with halftime approaching, Cummins’ excellent penalty kick to touch gave Redruth a line out deep in the Lymm 22. The ball secured, the maul crabbed towards the centre of the pitch, before the ball was released to the backs and, for the first time in the match, the Lymm mid-field defensive line was breached, with centre Connor Gilbert touching down by the posts, giving Cummins a simple conversion. 0-19.
Half Time: Lymm 0 – 19 Redruth
The feeling at half-time was that Lymm would have to be more clinical in their execution of the opportunities that came their way and reduce the frequency of their transgressions if they were to come away with anything from the match.
The second half didn’t start well, with flanker Jack Stride, yellow carded for a technical offence, Cummins extending Redruth’s lead to 22 points by converting the resultant simple penalty.
Although down a man, Lymm probably then enjoyed their best period and earned a justly deserved 7 points when James Pitcher emerged from the bottom of a rolling maul that had successfully trundled across the Redruth line. 7-22 on 53 minutes.
Unfortunately, it wasn’t long before Redruth had reestablished their 22 point advantage when prop forward Finley Wolstencroft forced his way over following a powerful Redruth scrum. Adam Hall added the extras to take the score to 7-29 after 62 minutes.
For the remainder of the match, Lymm enjoyed the majority of the ball and the better field position but, try as they might, they couldn’t break down the Cornishmen’s defence. Indeed, frustratingly, they fell further behind on the scoreboard courtesy of a long-range Hall penalty and a 75m interception try by scrum-half Sam Bray, converted by Hall.
Full Time: Lymm 7 – 39 Redruth
After the match, Director of Rugby, Andy Davies, commented:
“I don’t think the scoreline reflects how close the game actually was. We weren’t clinical enough in the first half which allowed Redruth to control the tempo of the match.”
“I just want to say a massive well done to the 2s who went up to Fylde with the bare minimum and put on a great display to return victorious in their league and cup double header.”
Team: Ben Lilley (50)); James Pitcher*(cc) (120)); Matty Hand* (142); Max Ure* (18); Harry Wadsdell (7); Jack Stride* (47); Josh Hadland* (82); Rhys Lilly* (101); Tom Manaton (55); Tom Shard*(cc) (173); Joe Heaton* (27); Cal Morris (88); James Hampson (6); Will Hitchen (3); Alex Muckherjee* (8).
Bench: Rob Makin* (101); Joe Higgins* (45); Rory Cartlidge (6); Fin Williams* (7); Alfie Simpson* (60).
( ) = number of Lymm First XV League appearances
* Former Lymm Academy/M&J player
Referee: Nathan Howarth
Lymm’s next fixture is on Saturday 31st October 2026 when they face Hornets at Crouchley Lane, K) 2:15pm