Moore 59 – 7 Lymm Eagles
Eagles Team Match Report
Eagles Struggle Against On-Form Moore
After a couple of good wins under their belts, but with their numbers depleted by injuries, call ups and unavoidable absences, Lymm Eagles came down to earth with a bit of a bump against local rivals Moore at Moss Lane on Saturday.
As usual, Captain Olly Brown, faced his usual struggle to get firm commitment from his troops. Veteran players Stu Norman, Reece Forrest and Jake Ashall kindly agreed to return from semi-retirement to fill the gaps with newcomers, Gareth Evans, Frazer Kinvig and Sam Cook also joining the squad. Jim (Badger) France, still carrying injuries from earlier games this season, bravely agreed to bench for the Eagles in order to, at least numerically, have at least one replacement. Fortunately, he was joined later by strong man Ben Stroud after he had managed to complete his family duties. More problems arose when Captain Olly Brown sportingly agreed to move up to support the 2XV, on the clear understanding that he would be awarded 2’s man of the match. Prop David Coon and Centre Kieran Williams agreed to take on his duties for the forwards and backs. If that wasn’t enough, on the morning of the match, key forward, Craig Capewell was forced to withdraw due to family matters. The good news was that this scribe/linesman/dogsbody managed to acquire invaluable support with fetching the water and stray balls from young Freddy Kinvig (Lymm U 11s) who was there to support his dad.
Right from the kick off, it was clear that the Eagles were really going to have to work hard to get anywhere in the game. The Moore squad was made up of a formidable combination of big, (some very big), strong and experienced forwards, coupled with plenty of fast legs in the backs.
Moore drew first blood after only 2 minutes when their annoyingly quick scrum half scampered in for his first try (of many) in the day. I say, “drew first blood”, because of the severe lacerations I received when retrieving the ball from the very spiky bushes at the back of the car park after the successful conversion (7 – 0). I spoke to the Ref to suggest that the game be abandoned so that I could receive appropriate medical treatment, but his reply was less than sympathetic.
The game continued in much the same vein, with Moore gaining most of the possession in the loose, but with Lymm more than capable of meeting the challenge in the scrums. Given that a lot of the backs had not played together before, their handling and passing was safe and accurate and good lines were being run. Scrum half, Chris Fuller was everywhere, ducking, dodging and diving and still managing to get the ball safely down the line. However, the tackling from Moore was ferocious which quickly snuffed out any of Lymm’s fledgling opportunities. Accordingly, Moore were able to run in more tries after, 19, 23 and 32 minutes play to bring the score to (28 – 0). During this period Jim France replaced the injured Frazer Kinvig who had taken a heavy knock and Flanker Josh McKean was rested to allow the late arriving Ben Stroud to take his place in the scrum.
Despite the deficit, Lymm were not downhearted and the continued to press hard with several storming runs by Ashall, Ure and Stroud only being snuffed out at the last minute. Eventually, almost on the stroke of half time Kieran Williams took the ball in mid field and drove in hard from about 10 metres out to score close to the posts. The conversion was well taken by scrum half Fuller to open his scoring account and the Referee blew for half time.
Half Time: Moore 28 – 7 Lymm Eagles
After the restart, the game continued in much the same way as the first half with Moore in control most of the time and dictating the pace and direction of play. All the Lymm players must be congratulated for maintaining their discipline and control in the face of sustained pressure and for continuing to make the important tackles which prevented the game descending into a rout. Nevertheless, despite the brilliant commitment and teamwork from Lymm over the next 40 minutes Moore were able to run in another 5 tries with 3 conversions to bring the score to (59 – 7) at the final whistle. Unfortunately, the final score whilst flattering to Moore, belies the intensity and tenacity demonstrated by the whole of the Eagle’s team which was well appreciated and applauded (for once) by the watching Moore supporters and the handful of Eagle’s followers (and me!).
Full Time: Moore 59 – 7 Lymm Eagles
A hard game to lose for the Eagles and a bitter pill to swallow given their sterling winning performance at the same fixture last year. Congratulations to Moore for a good win and an excellent sporting performance. The Referee congratulated both sides in the clubhouse afterwards for maintaining discipline and behaviour. A big thanks to all the Eagle’s old and new, who put themselves out this week to make sure that we were actually able to field a team and fulfil the fixture. Well done guys. I would have bought you all a drink in the bar at Moore, but I was unable to put my hand in my pocket whilst attempting to stem the flow of blood from the (serious) injury I sustained earlier in the match. I am thinking of making a formal request to the groundkeepers at Moore to deal with the offending bushes.
Given the committed performance of the whole team, it’s difficult to single out a Man of the Match. Despite late night emails and texts form Olly Brown asking for his name to be put in the hat for consideration, after consultation with the on-field Captains for the day, it was agreed that it should go the Chris Fuller for his unerring ability to be in the right place at the right time and to seemingly also to be everywhere all of the time.
Next week the Eagle’s need to travel to Merseyside to face Liverpool Medics, at Wyncote Sports Grounds where the pitches are frequented by large flocks of Canada Geese with loose bowels. Please make yourselves available and looking forward to seeing you there. All welcome as usual.
Tries: Kieran Williams (39)
Conversions: Chris Fuller (39)
Team: 1) George Harrison 2) David Coon (C) 3) Gareth Evans 4) Jez Ure 5) Louis Hind 6) Frazer Kinvig 7) Josh McKean 8) Jake Ashall 9) Chris Fuller 10) Sam Cook 11) Patrick Cummings 12) Kieran Williams 13) Reece Forrest 14) Ash Caffrey 15) Stu Norman REP 16) Jim France 17) Ben Stroud
Match Report: Pete & David Coon