Lymm Eagles 39 – 0 Moore
Eagles Team Match Report | Saturday February 17 2024
Eagles Moore Than a Match for Local Rivals
On another muddy and soggy Saturday (roll on Spring!), Lymm Eagles welcomed local rivals Moore 1XV to Crouchley Lane and produced one of their best performances of the season to gain a well-deserved victory. This was a great performance and one as we could have possibly envisaged, with physical defence being paired with clinical attack all leading to a confidence boosting victory.
After suffering defeats in their last three games, the Eagles season seemed to have stalled somewhat. Whilst promotion is not something the Eagles are particularly seeking, the desire to compete well against the top teams and finish as high up the league as possible, still remains. Back in November, Moore took the bragging rights with a close fought victory in their home fixture. The result could have been different but for a missed penalty kick late in the game. I won’t name the kicker because it doesn’t really Macca……SORRY Rick, matter!!!). By way of atonement Macca did go to the trouble of circulating a comprehensive SWOT analysis of the Moore squad pointing out their strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. Although this was useful, it might be considered borderline stalking (Police please take note) and unfortunately Macca also failed to consider the average reading age of the Eagles and some of the information may have missed its target by a long way.
The Eagles were therefore keen to avenge this earlier defeat and a lot of players made themselves available for this game. In the forwards, Ben Lloyd, Jack Harper and Max Ure returned the squad, whilst in the backs, Tom Baker replaced the absent Alan Reddecliff and Simon Beards returned from international duty to replace Reece Forrest in the centres. Captain Olly Brown also had the luxury of a full bench, although this resembled the infamous South African “Bomb Squad”, with 5 big, strong forwards and no backs.
Possibly stung by the scribe’s previous observations about a lack of warm up and pre-match drills, the Eagles made their way down to the pitch a good 20 minutes before kick-off. Moore were already down warming up, whilst complaining about the condition of the large Lymm No.2 pitch. There was a tingle of anticipation in the air, with both teams eyeing each other up in search of weaknesses before the game had even started. Moore had also brought a large contingent of supporters with them, who in the past have been very vocal about their dislike of the Lymm players. The referee, who was being assessed for this game, gave thorough briefings to both sides and perhaps aware of the building atmosphere, reminded the sides that he wanted a well-mannered, fair contest. This had all the makings of a special derby, and hopefully one without any donkeys!
The game kicked off and both sides set about throwing themselves into tackles and trying to establish their running game. Lymm were enjoying more of the possession, but Moore were utilising their big back row forwards to turn the ball over on several occasions, snuffing out any attacking moves. The set piece of both teams was strong, with Moore possibly just having the edge in the scrum. However Lymm managed to keep to their game plan of maintaining possession and after good work from 2nd row Ben Stroud and back row Max Ure, worked their way into the Moore 22. Scrum half Chris Kinsey secured quick ball and darted from the back of a ruck, only to be hauled down a metre short of the line. However, quick recycled ball found 2nd row Ben Lloyd, who powered over to the right of the posts to score a try after 8 minutes, converted by Rick McEvoy (7-0).
Lymm continued to attack and make ground through their forwards, with Kieran Williams, Jack Harper and Olly Brown consistently making good metres. This forward platform allowed Kinsey and fly half Tom Baker to work their magic in the backs and on 12 minutes, a clever reverse pass from Baker shipped the ball down the back line to winger Josh McKean, who sidestepped his opposite winger to score an unconverted try in the corner (12-0).
Things all seemed to be going Lymm’s way, but earlier games this season have shown the Eagles tendency of taking their foot off the gas at the wrong time. The message this time was to maintain the early pressure at all costs. Moore tried doggedly to get more into the game, but great defence kept them pinned back in their own half, leading to many clearing kicks. These were often fielded by full back Liam “Sully” Sullivan and winger Chris Mundy, who then used their speed and the broken field to make tens of metres almost at will. After 20 minutes, Lymm started to make substitutes in the forwards which did lead to some discontinuity. Whilst the new players bedded in, on 24 minutes Lymm were awarded a penalty for Moore hands in the ruck and opted to kick for goal rather than a lineout as there was some confusion about lineout options. The kick from McEvoy was successful bringing the score to (15-0).
Lymm continued to dominate possession, whilst any Moore attacks were being quickly snuffed out, with hooker Craig Capewell and replacement 2nd row Mike Clarke getting through lots of crunching tackles. On 33 minutes, Lymm had several attempts to “pick and go” from the base of the ruck, but which finally ended with McEvoy being held up over the line. From the resulting drop out, centre Simon Beards spotted a gap in the approaching Moore defence and scythed through. He offloaded in the tackle to 2nd row Jez Ure, who floated a wonderful pass out to Chris Mundy on the wing, who rapidly accelerated and sprinted to dive in the corner for an unconverted try (20-0).
Moore seemed to have no answer to the unrelenting pressure. From the restart on 38 minutes, the ball did not travel 10 metres and Lymm opted for a scrum. Lymm managed to get a good nudge to win the ball and Kinsey got the ball into the hands of Sully, who showed his turn of pace to zip past several defenders and go in under the posts for a try, converted by McEvoy (27-0). Lymm played out the final minute to bring up the half.
Half Time: Lymm Eagles 27 – 0 Moore 1st XV
An extremely good half for Lymm, with errors being kept low and every player working hard. However, there was still plenty of nerves and Moore were still a more than capable of scoring. With a lot of Welsh blood in the Eagles team, (some might argue too much!) the memory of the recent Scotland vs Wales game showed that even a 27 point lead may not be enough. The next score would be crucial. Lymm made changes, bringing on Jim France, Olly Chesworth and Joe Stewart to freshen up the pack.
The 2nd half kicked off and Lymm continued with the same intensity. Moore were starting to see more of the ball, but couldn’t do a lot with it, mainly due to the ferocity of the Lymm defence. Just 4 minutes into the 2nd half, Moore were awarded a scrum on halfway after a knock on. Despite Moore winning the scrum, excellent hassling work from Chris Kinsey saw the ball spill loose and be regathered by Kieran Williams. Kieran offloaded to fellow back rower Jim France. Jim sprinted clear and looked left, right, then behind for someone to pass to or some defender to tackle him. However, in the absence of any of these, he continued his storming 30m run to dive over for a great individual try after on 44 minutes, converted by McEvoy (34-0).
Over the next 10 minutes, Jim then showed his full repertoire of skills in Beast Mode, cutting defenders down at the ankles whilst doing his best impression of a burrowing badger to win several turnovers. Inevitably, Moore started to step up their intensity, whilst Lymm appeared to take their foot off the gas. The referee seemed to be looking to penalise Lymm more frequently, who were making some pretty basic mistakes, which had the effect of evening the game up a bit. Eventually the ref felt he had seen enough, and front rower Olly Chesworth was shown a yellow card for entering the ruck from the side. Moore tried to make use this man advantage but were repelled several times by aggressive defence. Ben Stroud and Jack Harper were also working hard in the line out, nicking several balls at important moments. Moore also lost a couple of their bigger ball carriers to injury, and we hope that they are okay. More great defence from the Lymm back 3 of Mundy, Sully and McKean, plus the tackling of father and son duo of Max and Jez Ure kept Moore scoreless.
The game was taking its toll on bodies and some reshuffling took place in the last 10 minutes, with Beardo moving to scrum half and Max moving to centre. After 70 minutes solid hard work, Olly Brown subbed himself off and reintroduced stalwart prop Dave Coon. The new front row trio of Capewell, Stewart and Coon proceeded to disrupt several scrums as Moore started to seriously run out of steam. In the last few minutes of play, Lymm worked their way into the Moore 22. Patient build up eventually saw the ball reach Tom Baker, who then threw a miss pass out to Max Ure. Max drew the last defender before passing out wide to Josh McKean, who battered his way over for his 2nd try, unconverted (39-0). The referee brought the game to an end after the kick.
Full Time: Lymm Eagles 39 – 0 Moore 1st XV
I think this game can be summed up with one word. WOW! An absorbing encounter from start to finish, in which Lymm dominated pretty much every facet of the game. The work rate and determination that has been missing for a number of weeks had returned and it was a privilege to watch some of the rugby that was played today. Recognition must be made of the great work done by Captain Olly Brown, who as “Mr Motivator” led his troops from the front and was a great example to all. To go toe to toe with a local rival and to keep them scoreless was particularly pleasing. For all the build-up and pre and post-match antics from both teams, Moore never stopped trying and played the game with good humour and with a lot of humility and we wish them well for the rest of the season and their promotion push.
With news filtering through that both the 1st and 2nd team had achieved victory, the clubhouse afterwards was absolutely jumping. This performance meant that the debate for man of the match was as difficult as ever, with a large number of the lads probably being able to claim the award. Special mentions this week go to Jim France, whose try and defensive work just after half time were a real game changer. Sully continues to make scoring tries in rugby union look easy. Josh McKean is enjoying his most prolific season and took his tries well and probably should have had a hat-trick. It was great to have Mike Clarke back in the Lymm team after recovering from back surgery. Man of the Match was eventually decided as winger Chris Mundy. Chris scored a good try, but it was his all-round work rate and contribution to the team that was most impressive, Well Done Chris, very well deserved.
The Eagles are now not back in action until the 9th of March when they travel to Wyncote Sports ground to take on Liverpool University Veterinarians, kick off 15:00 and as always, everyone most welcome. In the meantime, in this scribe’s role as promotor of rugby outside of the 1st team, please get yourselves over to Sedgley Park next week (24/02) to watch Lymm 2s play Sedgley 2s, 14:15 kick off.
Team: 1) Olly Brown (C) 2) Craig Capewell 3) David Coon 4) Ben Lloyd 5) Ben Stroud 6) Kieran Williams 7) Max Ure 8) Jack Harper 9) Chris Kinsey 10) Tom Baker 11) Chris Mundy 12) Rick McEvoy 13) Simon Beards 14) Josh McKean 15) Liam Sullivan REP 16) Joe Stewart 17) Olly Chesworth 18) Jez Ure 19) Jim France 20) Mike Clarke
Match Report: Pete & David Coon
