LYMM Rugby Union notched their 5th win in 6th games to further consolidate their place in National 3.
Having performed poorly at Penrith in February the Cheshire team had a score to settle and would prove a different outfit on hard ground.
Andy Roberts was recalled at 10, allowing Knowles and Williamson to shuffle to 15 and 11 respectively. Man mountain Adam Bray was injured so veteran Millachip moved to 6 and Higginson to 8. Sion Williams, after 6 weeks out, was benched joining youngster Emmitt and old-timer powerhouse Sutton.
Lymm like to play with confidence and this can be aided by a good start so to take the lead after 38 seconds helped. Andy Roberts chipping over static wing defence allowing Williamson to notch his 12th try of the season. Indeed Penrith’s defence was to blame for Lymm’s first 3 tries. A poor defensive kick allowed Williamson to drift left, finding Fletcher whose delicate inside pass released Jack Johnstone for a second try on 12 and just 6 minutes later loose Penrith passing gave Fletcher an interception try. 17-0. Indeed Lymm may have had another 3 tries during this period if execution had been better.
Penrith’s most effective player, 13 Hawley, surged through 2 tackles and Cartmel scored to make it 17-5 on 21. The fact that a definite Jack Johnstone try was incorrectly adjudged to be held up on 32 was compounded when, in the 6th minute of 1st half injury time, Penrith undeservedly scored again to make it 17-10 at half time.
Scott Harrison was binned on 51 and when Penrith notched the resulting penalty to make it 17-13 Lymm’s numerous handling errors in the visiting red zone suggested they would rue these chances. However when Harrison returned to action 14 man Lymm had moved to 31-13 with 2 converted tries from Williamson, after another interception, this time from Ollie Higginson, and then Jack Johnstone, finishing off a move started from Knowles running the ball from his own 22.
A charge down from man of the match Darbyshire led to Andy Roberts scoring the 6th try of the afternoon and a Luke Emmitt drop goal sandwiched two Penrith consolation tries to make the final score 41-27.
Coach Kinsey stated the obvious saying: “Another welcome 5 points. Teams can’t live with our pace at times. We must up our defensive intensity significantly if we are to beat relegation battlers Middlesborough.”
Andy Roberts, back to his confident best, reflected saying: “The hard ground does suit our style of play and we scored some great tries. It could have been easier if we didn’t squander so many chances. Real push now to win the final two.”
Lymm now make the long trip to Middlesborough on Saturday and then host Billingham on April 23.
Team:15 Joe Knowles 14 Jack Johnstone 13 Tom Bray 12 Adam Fletcher 11 Dave Williamson 10 Andy Roberts 9 Chris Kinsey 1 Scott Harrison 2 Tim Oakes 3 Jordan Widdrington 4 Tom Darbyshire 5 Alex Bennett 6 Peter Millachip 7 Jake Ashall 8 Ollie Higginson 16 Luke Emmitt 17 Sion Williams 18 Mark Sutton
