Lymm Eagles 48 – 21 Wilmslow 2nds

Eagles Experience Proves Decisive in Crunching Battle with Wilmslow

On a thankfully almost dry Saturday, and after a two week break, the Eagles started their end of season run against a strong Wilmslow side, currently sitting only one position behind Lymm in the league. In the previous fixture in February, Wilmslow had taken the victory with their very physical play and this fixture was expected to be much the same. This was a match where both sides would give no quarter, but Lymm would be able to use their skill and experience to emerge triumphant.

The start of this week brought the news that the Eagles fearless leader and Captain, Olly Brown, would not be available for the first time this season. Instead he had chosen to be on a restful and stress free rugby tour with the Lymm U13s in Portugal. Fortunately, the Eagles found a great replacement organiser in centre Rick McEvoy, who used all his powers of persuasion to assemble a strong squad. With Olly Brown away, Ollie Chesworth was brought into the front row. Adam Halford made a very welcome return in the 2nd row. Martin “Henders” Henderson was first choice at scrum half. Rick McEvoy formed a very experienced centre partnership with Tom Baker. Jorge Reynolds made his return from injury on the wing. On the bench, Matt Hill was brought in to perform his combined role of player and physio. Finally Matt Grellier made a very welcome return to a Lymm side after a year out recovering from a serious knee injury. Welcome back Matt.

Having been caught cold in the first fixture, the Eagles decided that some form of warm up would probably be beneficial and made their way down to the pitch a whole 20 minutes before kick-off. The Lymm grounds team must be thanked as on Thursday, the pitches were pretty much unplayable due to the rain, but with a lot of hard work, the pitch was in good condition and holding up very well.

Wilmslow were already warming up, running line outs and backs moves and seemed eager to complete the double over Lymm. They were even fit enough to make the journey back to the changing rooms before kick-off, something frowned upon by the many veteran Eagles as a waste of energy. The Captaincy was given to stalwart prop Dave Coon and once Wilmslow finally made it back down to the pitch, Lymm kicked off to get the match underway.

The first few minutes were an intense physical battle, with Lymm retaining possession well but being met with very hard tackling from Wilmslow. However, Lymm made good ground from strong carries by Max Ure, Kieran Williams and Ben Stroud. Lymm found their way into the Wilmslow 22 and a lovely pass from fly half Alan Reddecliff found full back Liam “Sully” Sullivan out on the wing. Sully got close before offloading in the tackle to winger Simon Beards, who dived over in the corner for a try after only 3 minutes, converted by McEvoy (7-0). Simon was almost incoherent with glee at getting tries in his last two games, but most of the lads thought he was having a fit. This was a great start, but it also acted as a catalyst for Wilmslow to step up their game which soon became a proper arm wrestle. Neither side had the ascendancy in the set pieces, with both packs well matched. The referee was quick to penalise offsides, which led to lots of territory changes for both teams. The referee was also not impressed with the constant running commentary that he was receiving from both teams and both captains were warned.

On 13 minutes, Lymm were awarded a penalty, but the kick didn’t find touch and Wilmslow quickly shipped the ball to the other side of the pitch to their fast centre, who rounded the non-existent Lymm defence with ease to go in under the posts for a converted try (7-7).

The game continued in the same vein, with Lymm perhaps guilty of trying to force the play. Lymm were still gaining good yards with their runners, while Jack Harper and Craig Capewell tackled anything that moved. On 20 minutes, around the halfway line, Alan Reddecliff sold an outrageous dummy to cut through the Wilmslow defence. With only the fullback to beat, Alan selflessly past back inside to a flying McEvoy, who cantered home for a self-converted try (14-7).

Straight from kick off, the ball made its way to Kieran Williams, who showed great power and quick feet to break through the defensive line. The ball was moved to the wing and Jorge Reynolds showed a great turn of speed to acrobatically dive in at the corner and just evade going into touch (a decision for which this scribe/touch judge received a lot of verbal abuse from the Wilmslow players!). The try was expertly converted from the touchline with a gusty wind blowing by McEvoy (21-7).

Wilmslow though were still well in this game and were making many metres themselves. Lymm continued to be penalised and Wilmslow used this to their advantage to get into the Lymm 22. On 25 minutes, strong running and a superb offload in the tackle allowed Wilmslow to go in under the posts for a converted try (21-14). The game see sawed up and down the pitch and Lymm finally went managed to drive their way into the opposition 22 but ended up in an unseemly pile of bodies. Wilmslow thought they had won possession, but wonderful turnover work from back row Matt Grellier got Lymm the ball back into the hands of Max Ure, who physically barged his way over for a great try, converted by McEvoy (28-14).

The last quarter of the half was all Wilmslow on attack and on 38 minutes almost went over but knocked on with the line begging. However, from the resultant scrum, the ball flew out the back of the Lymm scrum into the unprotected try area and was gratefully touched down by the Wilmslow scrum half (28-21).

There was time for one final Lymm attack, but after several phases, Lymm were awarded a penalty for offside and despite boos and shouts of “boring” from the opposition (and from this scribe) McEvoy kicked the resultant penalty to bring the half to a close.

HALF TIME: Lymm Eagles 31 – 21 Wilmslow 2^nd XV

An entertaining half, but not one good for the blood pressure. Lymm were great on the attack, but needed to cut down the errors, penalties and back chat if they wanted to come away with the victory. Matt Hill and Jez Ure were brought in the pack to add some bite and experience, whilst Ash Caffrey and Josh McKean were brought on to the wings to bring fresh legs and pace to the backline.

The 2nd half kicked off and immediately there was an increase in intensity from Wilmslow who were making all the ground and leaving Lymm clinging on a times. With Wilmslow gaining in confidence, Lymm needed something to wrestle the momentum back and that came in the form of a bone shuddering tackle from McEvoy, who was playing with a renewed determination to keep Lymm in front. This was evident after 50 minutes, when (in his own post-match words narrated to me in the bar) “after a quick tap penalty, McEvoy produced an excellent 30m individual run which took him over the tryline for an almost certain try, only to have the ball dislodged from his hand by a last ditch tackle from the full back”. Actually, I thought he just dropped the ball over the line. Hopefully it wouldn’t Macca……sorry matter, in the end (5th time of asking for that joke).

At this stage, neither side seemed to be on top, with a few bits of open rugby getting in the way of about 30 scrums from knock ons. Whilst both sets of forwards were pretty well balanced, one particular scrum saw prop Ollie Chesworth completely fold his opposite prop in half, to earn Ollie the new nickname “the Deckchair”. Not bad from a player who is usually a 2nd row. Fellow prop Dave Coon congratulated Ollie on his hard work and was in no way jealous of all the plaudits Ollie received from his teammates, even though Dave does all the work anchoring the scrum at tighthead (2 guesses to who wrote this sentence!!).

On 60 minutes, Lymm were awarded a penalty in front of the posts. Sensing the importance of increasing the lead, McEvoy kicked the penalty with the opposition boos ringing in his ears (34-21).

The game continued to be a tight affair, with Wilmslow coming increasingly desperate and turning up the intensity of their tackling. On 70 minutes, one tackle was judged high and Lymm opted to kick the penalty, but due to the distance the kick just went wide. Wilmslow gave it their all in the last few minutes, but finding no middle route, tried to attack out wide. Great tackling from the wings of McKean and Reynolds closed those avenues. On 75 minutes, great turnover work released Jack Harper through the middle. Jack then interchanged passes with Reddecliff who released a subtle pass to a flying Sully, who outstripped the defence to score to the right of the post, converted by McEvoy (41-21).

Wilmslow were suffering from injuries and tiredness by now and despite their best efforts were struggling to keep going. More good carries from Jez Ure and Matt Hill worked Lymm up field and Jack Harper once again got involved in the backs. He spotted a gap and passed the ball to a rampaging Adam Halford, who galloped through the gap to go in for a try on 80 minutes. McEvoy’ conversion brought the game to a close (48-21).

FULL TIME: Lymm Eagles 48 – 21 Wilmslow 2^nd XV

An excellent performance from all involved. The game was very entertaining and both sides should be commended for playing the game with such intensity and in good spirit. A big thank you to Wilmslow for coming over to us and giving us a good game, we wish you well for the rest of the season. For Lymm, with several players unavailable, this result really showed the strength of the Eagles squad and the confidence we have in each other to do the job when required. Excellent work by all.

For Lymm, this was an important result for the season. Aside from new league champions Bowdon (congratulations), the Eagles have now beaten every other team in the league at least once this season, which is a fantastic achievement. Hopefully next time we play Bowdon, we won’t have to play on that small muddy children’s pitch (swamp) and we can see if we can complete the set.

The post-match debate about Man of the Match in the bar afterwards was as usual, intense and impartial. Special mentions this week go to Ollie Chesworth, whose scrummaging gave Lymm a platform to work from. Max Ure was involved in everything today and was colossal in his tackling. Matt Greller’s turnover work and drives brought a new energy to the side that was very much appreciated. Rick McEvoy just missed out on MOTM but his all round game was superb and his tackles were frighteningly good. However it was decided that man of the match should go to flanker Kieran Williams, whose ability to break the defensive line gave Lymm the edge in this evenly contested match. Well done Kieran well deserved.

A last minute text from captain Olly Brown revealed that he had awarded himself man of the match in the U13s warm up match. Well done, Olly great stuff!

Next week, Lymm welcome Buxton 1XV for our final home game of the season. With no 1st team game and the 2nd team away at Chester, please get yourselves down to Crouchley Lane to support us, 3pm kick off. All Welcome

Team: 1) Ollie Chesworth 2) Craig Capewell 3) David Coon (C) 4) Ben Stroud 5) Adam Halford 6) Kieran Williams 7) Max Ure 8) Jack Harper 9) Martin Henderson 10) Alan Reddecliff 11) Simon Beards 12) Rick McEvoy 13) Tom Baker 14) Jorge Reynolds 15) Liam Sullivan REP 16) Matt Grellier 17) Matt Hill 18) Jez Ure 19) Ash Caffrey 20) Josh McKean

Match Report: Peter & David Coon