Winnington Park 2nds 19 – 29 Lymm Eagles
Eagles Team Match Report | Saturday September 28 2024
Eagles Attempt to Snatch Defeat from the Jaws of Victory
Lymm Eagles kept up their unbeaten start to the season with a gutsy performance away at Winnington Park 2nds. This result was far from comfortable, and victory was not assured until the last 5 minutes of the game, with Lymm almost falling foul of both a fired up Winnington side and a stickler of a referee to almost throw this match away.
In the last game of last season, Lymm Eagles suffered a 29 – 19 away defeat in a very physical match against a remarkably well supported and well-disciplined Winnington Park 2nd team, allowing Winnington to leapfrog Lymm into 2nd place in the league. On that day, the lack of a match for the Winnington 1st XV probably contributed to the large number of vociferous spectators and others present at the club.
On Saturday, in a re-run of that fixture and with Winnington having games for all three of its teams, the Eagles were able to provide a more competitive opposition and achieve an exact reversal of the score from the previous encounter, with a 19 – 29 win. However, this was not achieved without a great deal of difficulty for the Eagles mainly because of their own indiscipline and mistakes.
On the drive over, the question of whether any of the Eagles could remember ever winning on a visit to Burrows Hill was hotly debated. The memory banks let us down because even this scribe cannot remember seeing a Lymm victory there. Following last season’s chastening defeat, Eagles Captain, Olly Brown, had little difficulty in raising a good balanced squad from the Eagles regulars. The excellent father and son combo of Jez and Max Ure continued in the forwards, but due to illness, young James Beard was unable to join his dad, the highly experienced Simon Beards, in the backs for another father/son combo. Another casualty of last week’s game against Liverpool Vets was Dave Williamson who suffered a broken arm in only his second match following his return after a long absence. Get well soon Dave.
The starting front row of Gav Woods, Olly Brown and David Coon provided a sizable platform to build a scrum, whilst the engine room was once again provided by George (Ringo) Harrison and Ben Stroud, with regular back row “Hanger Ons” of Kieran William, Max Ure and Matt Grellier. Often voted the “Most Annoying Player on the Pitch” by most oppositions, wily scrum half Chris Kinsey made a welcome return coupled with the ever-reliable Alan Reddecliff on his outside as fly half. Rick “yes I have paid my subs” McEvoy and Tom Baker filled the centre spots with Simon Beards and Josh McKean as their wingers. The safe hands and big boot of full back Rhys Jones completed the starting lineup.
Once again, withs several coaches and plenty of tackle bags and other gear (frowned upon by the Eagles as unnecessary as a handbag in a scrum), Winnington looked very impressive warming up and going through their drills about an hour before the match. It was clear that they were preparing for a very physical encounter and would be taking no prisoners.
Winnington were hosting two games today for their 2nds and 3rds which provided a good spectacle for their spectators on the balcony of the club house. Another couple of dozen or so occupied the main stand and along the sidelines. Regular Eagles supporter, Stu Wraith turned up with his fine looking British bulldog and offered his services for crowd control if things got too lively, and regular Craig Capewell supporter, his partner Alex, offered to continue her role as unofficial photographer for the Eagles. Despite the recent rain the first team pitch was soft but pretty dry and everything looked set for a fast, open game and a well-balanced match.
From the kick off, Lymm were determined to show the home team that they meant business with crunching tackles from the forwards keeping the ball tight in the centre of the field and denying Winnington the opportunity to move the ball out to their fast-looking backs. The powerful Lymm pack was able to control the set pieces but were made to work extremely hard by their opposite numbers, who gave no quarter and no step back. After only 2 minutes play, the Lymm forwards had driven their way up field and well into the opposition half. Quick ball from Kinsey was rapidly passed out to McEvoy who drew the last defender in and managed to spin the ball out to a speeding Beards who went over in the corner to the cheers of the massed Lymm spectator. Unfortunately, after considerable deliberation, the Ref decided that the last pass had been forward and disallowed the try – bad luck Beardo! Not to be denied a score in the opening few minutes, Lymm continued to retain the ball and pushed Winnington back into their half when a great dummy from McEvoy, wrong footed his opposite number which enabled him to scamper in for a great try close to the posts after only 3 minutes play, which made his conversion that much easier (0-7).
Buoyed up by this early score, Lymm continued to use their powerful forwards to batter their way forward and release the backs and speedy wingers. After only 8 minutes play, centre Tom Baker took the initiative and with a great turn of speed, crashed through the last two defenders for a well worked try. The conversion was close but no cigar this time. (0 – 12).
Winnington appeared somewhat stunned by the Eagles’ powerful onslaught in the first 10 minutes and proceeded to change their game plan to slow the game down and retain possession in their forwards. This approach was working well, and it was only the strong tackling of the Lymm backs who prevented a string of scores from Winnington. It was only a matter of time, about 18 minutes in fact, before the Winnington forwards organised themselves into a coherent driving maul to march themselves relatively easily over the Lymm line to open their account with a converted try. (7 – 12).
As both teams gained a better appreciation of the oppositions playing style, play settled down for the next 10 minutes with both sides gaining, losing and regaining possession in equal measure. During this period, it seemed that the referee had been reading the RFU publication “Obscure Infringements in the Game of Rugby Union and How to Apply Them.” Unfortunately, most of these seemed to be directed at Lymm which caused a lot of puzzled faces. This scribe is sure that the last culprit of some of the offences must have been William Webb Ellis, although it is completely untrue that they were both at school together. Scrum half Chris Kinsey even got a severe reprimand from the Ref, for joining in one of the private discussions between the opposition hooker and scrum half who were trying to decide which line out call to use. Kinner tried to excuse himself that he thought that was a part of his job. The referee was not amused! 3/10 see me after class Mr Kinsey.
Eventually after about half an hours play, fly half Reddecliff initiated a series of great passes through the centres and then looped around the back to rejoin the move and finally sprint over in the corner for a great individual try. The conversion by Rhys Jones unfortunately glanced off the wrong side of the posts. (7 – 17). Only 3 minutes later, McEvoy picked up a loose ball at the back of a ruck on halfway and proceeded to execute another great sniping run down the right wing. In danger of being forced into touch, McEvoy skilfully chipped the ball, in a perfectly weighted kick, over the heads of the opposition and sprinted through to touch down in the corner. Unfortunately, the angle proved too narrow to enable his conversion. (7 – 22).
Half Time: Winnington Park 2nds 7 – 22 Lymm Eagles
Despite holding a sizable lead, Lymm knew the game was on a knife edge and the halftime message was again, to cut out the errors, back chat and moaning at the referee, who was just starting to turn against the Eagles. Winnington were building well into the game and the next score was crucial. Several changes were made, with a bomb squad of forwards coming on from the bench. Craig “Viking” Capewell was introduced to the front row (hello front row?), the 2nd row pairing of Jez Ure and Mike Clarke brought some much-needed experience to the team, whilst Jim (Badger) France and Steve Williams were brought into the back row to try and wrestle control back.
It took a while for the second half to get going, with both teams again guilty of errors, although most of the errors from Winnington came from knock ons, courtesy the crunching tackles from Kieran Williams and Macca. However, Winnington were growing into this game and revelling off the back of the many penalties that Lymm were giving away, with the referee seeming to forget that he could play the game without having his arm stuck out horizontally. Even Captain Olly apparently could not even speak to the referee about the infringements, without being promptly marched back 10 metres for back chat.
On 60 minutes, the referee had seen enough and a particularly high tackle from hooker Capewell, which was probably a foot above the sternum line, was rewarded with a yellow card and 10 minutes enforced rest in the bin. Winnington quickly attacked but were forced out of play on the Lymm 5 metre line, resulting in a nervy lineout. With Capewell in the bin and Olly on the sidelines, it was left to stand in hooker Dave Coon to throw in. Despite a pinpoint accurate throw (David asked me to write that), the call was misheard, and the ball was slapped back into the in goal area for a lurking Winnington back row to touch down for an unconverted try (12-22).
The Eagles’ nerves were really starting to jangle and Winnington were feeding off the chaos. Lymm were struggling to regroup and several weak attempts at tackling allowed Winnington to work their way back up the pitch. Each time Lymm won ball it was quickly turned over or Lymm were penalised by the referee. Several forwards were perhaps guilty of white line fever and tried to go on their own rather than looking for support or going off feet when there was no need. Lymm reached full panic mode when the scrum was shunted back on 67 minutes and strong running from the Winnington centre, and a deft offload saw the Winnington flanker go under the sticks for a converted try (19-22).
With a lead of only 3 points the Eagles players were starting to bicker amongst themselves and were looking for some stimulus to get back into the game. Winger Josh McKean tried to provide this straight from the kick off by tackling the large Winnington ball carrier who was returning the ball. However his tackle was less recognisable as a tackle and considered more of a shoulder barge to the face (quite a feat considering the opposition player was about a foot taller than Josh). After the handbags were put down, Josh received a yellow card for lack of arms in the tackle. At least this did provide some impetus to the Eagles forwards, after seeing a winger at least attempt to tackle the large opposition forwards.
With only 10 minutes left on the clock, the game remained tense and only repeated last-ditch tackles from Williams, Beards and France prevented breaks developing. Arguments continued to break out between forwards and backs disrupting everyone’s concentration. This culminated in a poor lineout option 5 metres out when all communication was lost and the ball thrown straight to the Winnington fly half.
However, with 2 minutes to go, the ball was expertly turned over in the middle of the park by (I think) Tom Baker (with apologies to Kieran Williams and Matt Grellier, who might also have contributed) and the ball was shipped to Macca on the wing, who ran half the length of the pitch, shrugging off several tackles and rounding the full back to go in under the posts for a self-converted try to bring up his hattrick. (19-29). Macca enjoyed that one, even with the chasing Park players giving him an unnecessary prod and a poke after he scored. The ref apparently did not see that one, which is surprising considering he had seen every other minutia of infringement!
There was still time for a kick-off from which Winnington knocked on trying to regather the ball. Lymm just needed to regather the ball from the scrum and kick it out. However, the ref spotted a knee on the floor from the Eagles tight head prop (who for family reasons shall obviously remain nameless) and awarded Park a penalty. Park attacked with venom in a desperate search of a losing bonus point but were thwarted several times by good defending, and particularly a bone shuddering hit from Max Ure. The ball was eventually shipped wide, but the Winnington winger was first held by Josh on the wing before Kieran Williams picked both players and the ball up and drove them into touch to bring the game to a close.
Full Time: Winnington Park 2nds 19 – 29 Lymm Eagles
A recurring comment within the Eagles this season has been that the best teams will find a way to win, and this was definitely the case here. Considering how well they started the game, the Eagles came off the pitch knowing that, for large parts of the game, they were not the better side, and more work will be needed to keep this good start going. In the post-match, on-field round up, they were also reminded that winning or losing, they are all one team of mates, playing together and supporting each other. With the anxiety generated by the lacklustre performance in the second half, it was almost overlooked that they had won against a very strong Winnington team, who undoubtedly, will still be near the top of the table at the end of the season.
So well done lads, this scribe is still very proud of you all, despite the effects of the stress induced tachycardia. Big thanks to Winnington for the game and post-match hospitality. A very well drilled and disciplined team who will cause problems for most of the teams in this league. Thanks to your coaches as well, who provided us with great feedback and colourful verbal comment on our performance throughout the game and afterwards.
Regarding the Man of the Match today, special mentions this week go to Keiran Williams, for many powerful runs and excellent tackling. Tom Baker and Rhys Jones were classy in the backs and were safe pair of hands under increasing pressure. Gav Woods anchored the pack very well and we were really happy that he chose to give up a netball tournament to help us out (I assume he was playing in it!). Man of the match though goes to Macca for his three tries and all-round display, especially in defence. Well done, Macca. Hopefully, we can slow down your impending house purchase to keep you in the squad for a few more matches.
There is no game for the Eagles next week but get yourselves down to Crouchley Lane as the 1sts look to extend their winning run against Harrogate, whilst the 2nds face off against Rossendale at home. Please give them all the support you can.
Finally, our thoughts go to the family, friends, players, and supporters over at Rossendale Rugby Club for Liam Canning, who sadly passed away this week.
Everyone at Lymm offers their condolences.
Team: 1) Gav Woods 2) Olly Brown (C) 3) David Coon 4) Ben Stroud 5) George Harrison 6) Matt Grellier 7) Max Ure 8) Kieran Wiliams 9) Chris Kinsey 10) Alan Reddecliff 11) Simon Beards 12) Rick McEvoy 13) Tom Baker 14) Josh McKean 15) Rhys Jones REP 16) Jim France 17) Jez Ure 18) Mike Clarke 19) Steve Williams 20) Craig Capewell
Tries: Tom Baker, Rick McEvoy (3), Alan Reddecliff
Conversions: Rick McEvoy (2)
Match Report: Pete & David Coon