Taunton Titans 59 – 12 Lymm

Lymm suffer in Somerset

Due to a lack of scribes able to make the journey to Taunton, the report was written in the cosy confines of Beechwood, where the match was live-streamed for a doughty band of Ali’s and alkies who had gathered to watch.

Lymm saw Cal Morris return at scrum half, and debutant Dylan Carroll on the wing. From the camera footage Lymm appeared to have a strong wind behind them.

From the start it was clear that the Taunton scrum would be an issue for Lymm, with them being pushed off a Lymm put-in pretty much from the kick off. The ball was advanced to the try line, but held up. This lead to a goal line drop-out , another Taunton scrum success and then the creation of space to score on the right wing. 7 v 0 including the conversion.

The home side would threaten again with a breach of the Lymm line allowing a lengthy break to just a couple of yards of the try line, but a pass went forward and Lymm survived again.

Lymm gradually began to establish possession for a ten minute spell, however knock ons scuppered each attack.

Despite a yellow card Taunton would score next, with a rumbling drive into Lymm territory being rewarded by a poor effort in the Lymm defence and Taunton were gifted the points, 14 v 0.

The impressive Taunton number 8 would advance the score to 21 v 0, after a Lymm clearance kick sailed the length of the pitch, bringing Taunton right back to Lymm’s 18 metre. A high tackle by Lymm saw them yellow carded, and the home side were able to bully their way over the line.

Half time: Taunton 21 – 0 Lymm

The second half began with Taunton simply catching the ball and running through the visitors defence to score from 45 meters, 28 v 0.

A poor kick by Taunton gave Lymm some rare possession in the opponent’s territory, however the execution of the attack left much to be desired and the ball went astray. Taunton were on-hand to hoof the ball deep into Lymm’s turf and a simple collect and score took Taunton to 35 v 0.

Mukherjee now moved to number 9, and the pace of Lymm’s attack increased. But it would be Lymm’s pack who would finally trouble the scorer, with a line out maul being executed well, 35 v 7, with hooker James Pitcher scoring and converted by fly half and skipper Tom Shard.

Lymm gifted Taunton their next try with poor passing inviting them to pick the ball up and again run unopposed to score – 40 v 7.

A moment that showed the quality Lymm have when on form saw Carroll and Williams combine to score a fine try on left wing. 40 v 12 with the unsuccessful conversion.

Taunton responded immediately, with the tactic of running hard and fast again bearing fruit. Three defenders fell off the full back as he took the ball into Lymm’s defence, allowing him to simply run another 40 metres in oceans of space.

With Lymm’ defence now seemingly inspired by SpongeBob in its porous nature, the West Country team were able to score a further 3 tries, final score, 59 v 12.

The response in the club house was can be most accurately framed as “How the hell are you going to write that up?”

Indeed it may be that the view from the big screen is crueller to the players than watching in person, but this was a performance where the defence was too inconsequential, the attack uncoordinated and inaccurate.

Team: 1. Ben Lilley (48), 2. James Pitcher * (119), 3. Dalitso Ngoma (24), 4. Nathan Ovien (5), 5. Mc Carthy (3), 6. Jack Stride* (46), 7. Maskery(16) 8. Josh Hadland (81), 9. Cal Morris (87), 10. Tom Shard (C)* (172), 11. Joe Heaton * (26), 12. Jack Reynolds (58), 13. Andy Williams* (36), 15. Dylan Carroll (1). 15. Alex Muckherjee* (7).

Finishers: 16. Logan Byrne (7), 17. Higgins (43), 18. Sam Ure* (17), 19. Joe Cope (6), 20. Hitchen (2)

 ( ) No. of Lymm First XV League appearances

*Product of Lymm M&J’s/Colts Academy

Match Report: Dave Fernyhough