Lymm 75
Sandbach 7

This was always going to be a tough day for Sandbach when they turned up with only 13 men for the first game of the new senior colt’s league and on a beautiful September Sunday with a dry pitch and glorious sunshine, Lymm were in the mood to throw the ball around.

Lymm dropped a player to make the game 14 v 13 but with only 4 minutes gone the extra man told when Dickinson burst through the defence and put Hadland in for the first score. Simpson hit the extras for a 7-0 lead.Sandbach were doing their best to get involved but were being starved of any ball ad Lymm dominated I the pack. A quick break saw Simpson put in a Crossfield kick for Hadland to gather and crash over. Simpson struck the conversion. 14-0.

From kick off Inman gathered the kick, fed Simpson who made ground before giving the ball to Hadland who passed inside to Senior to go over under the stick. Simpson hit the extras for a 21-0 lead. Sandbach defended well and stopped several moves that would have ended in scores but eventually some great work passing the ball down the line from one side to the other. Then a great miss pass gave Hopkinson space to go over with the conversion from Simpson taking the lead out to 28-0.

Soon after, some great play from our 22 saw the forwards hit the ball up the middle and set the ball outside the opposition 22 where Simpson picked up and mirroring a scene from ‘strictly’ danced his way through the defence to score. He also hit the conversion. 35-0. This was followed up by anther Simpson solo effort and conversion for a 42-0 lead at the break.

HT 42 – 0

Just after the restart, Lymm stole a Sandbach lineout. A great drive by Soni saw Dickinson pick and drive to score. The conversion was, wait for it, missed! 47-0. Lymm then dropped another player off to make it and even 13 a-side. From the next phase of play some quality offloading saw a couple of players were brought down just short, until Beardsworth smashed over by the posts. Simpson now back on kicking form hit the extras. 54-0.

Sandbach had never given up in this game and it was never easy. There defence was solid and they put in some big hits. Eventually their effort was rewarded when a burst through the middle ended in a converted try pulling the score back to 54-7. However, normal service was resumed when Ratcliffe gathered the kick off and put Dickinson in under the posts for Simpson to convert. 61-7.

After some Sandbach pressure Lymm worked the ball the full length with Brown putting Inman in under the sticks for Simpson to convert. 68-7. There was still time for Beardsworth to set off down the wing and implement the Samoan side step. The ball was worked in field where Ratcliffe and Soni were stopped short of the line. The ball was worked back and Aird danced over for the final score converted by Simpson.

That brought the final whistle and a solid 75-7 victory.

Our thanks to Sandbach for making the journey with only 13 men and sticking to their task.