Bosh inspires Lymm to victory

LYMM turned the form book upside down with an impressive 16-8 victory over Sandal – inspired by a half-time team talk from Alex “Bosh” Bennet, who suffered a serious injury in the away fixture last year.
Lymm’s one victory so far this season has been in stark contrast to Sandals free scoring start to the campaign.
Those in the know however knew that Lymm’s results were not a true reflection of the performances and were confident of a home win as they were at virtual full strength, with the back row of Bray, Mullarkey and Higginson finally starting a game in tandem together. Before the match coach Kinsey promised a dynamic game based around driving and off-loading.
This was the first meeting between Lymm and Sandal since ‘Bosh’ (Pictured right) was injured in the away fixture last year. The programme paid tribute to Sandal for their support of Bosh and the club since that day. Indeed the two clubs have a lot in common; both are built on the strength of their mini and junior sections with first teams made up of young home grown players who want to play for their local club.
The game started in a swirling wind but with the pitch in excellent condition, despite the recent rain.
Both teams started slowly and appeared to be taking their mutual respect a little too far by coughing up possession and gifting each other the ball. The first thirty minute of the half where a constant stream of turnovers and errors with both sides not able to put any phases of play together. There was no sign of Sandal’s free flowing backs or Lymms promised off-loading game, although to be fair to both sides the wind and slippery ball meant it was not a day for expansive rugby.
The consensus amongst the spectators was ‘scrappy and lackluster’, coach Kinsey on one of his many grumbles up the touchline was a little more critical calling it ‘shocking.’ If this reporter was being critical it would be the tendency of Lymm to over complicate things, particularly in the backs and try to force the pace.
Sandal did put the first points on the board after 25 minutes with a penalty from the number 10 and captain Greg Wood. By the thirtieth minute of the half Lymm where beginning to get increasingly frustrated and felt the wrath of the referee for constant infringements. Captain Ollie Higginson was the first in the bin for handling in the ruck followed closely by Pete Allen for an un-defined offence but the consensus was that, it was probably for being persistently Pete Allen. For the last ten minutes of the half Sandal were camped in the Lymm 22 but the 13 men held on superbly conceding just one further penalty and managing to break away on the stroke of half time to register a penalty of their own kicked by Luke Emmitt.
The half-time score of 6-3 to Sandal was a great return for Lymm having being camped in their own half and playing for several minutes with only 13 men. The Sandal coach was later to reflect that their failure to capitalize on the first half territory and not put points on the board when Lymm were down to 13 was perhaps the turning point of the game.
Lymm were buoyed by the end to the first half and following a half-time rallying call from Bosh, came out for the second half with their tails up. Meanwhile Sandal, having failed to break down Lymm appeared to have lost a bit of belief. Slowly Lymms driving and off-loading game started to take shape and Sandal struggled to contain the forward surges.
Lymm’s scrum and line-out was working well and with good interchanges amongst the forwards Lymm began to get on top. The breakthrough finally came after 10 minutes of the second half, great off-loading between the forwards down the middle of the pitch, sucked the Sandal forwards in, the ball was eventually spun out to Tom Smith for the centre to score. On 25 minutes, a similar break from the back of the scrum from Adam Bray was again taken on by the forwards, the ball was eventually off-loaded to Ollie Higginson who broke several more tackles and floated a lovely ball out to Rich McEvoy to touch down in the corner.
The promised simple direct off-loading had finally arrived and the game was up…… Sandal frantically tried to get back into the game but made no real inroads against the Lymm defence. Whilst Sandal spectators will moan about Lymm being off-side all day, shutting out a team that has had 70 and 80 point victories this season is no mean feat and was epitomized by one crunching tackle on his opposite number by Henry Bellis.
Sandal had one last surge, and with three minutes remaining decided against a penalty kick in front of the posts and a potential bonus point to go for the try. Following the kick to touch and line-out Lymm stole the ball and raced up field to win a penalty of their own in front of the sticks. Luke Emmitt coolly slotted the kick to make the final score 16 – 6 to Lymm. Great win and a dogged performance.
Sandal spectators and coaching staff were magnanimous in defeat accepting they hadn’t played well, that Lymm edged it on the second half performance and perhaps wanted it more.
After the match Bosh was awarded the Champagne moment for his half-time team talk and Ollie Higginson the Captain was awarded the man of the match.
Ollie is the epitome of what Lymm Rugby Club is all about, a product of Lymm High School who came through the junior ranks to make his first team debut as a gangly teenager, he has now matured into a great player and leader both on and off the field.

Lymm Team: Dave Williamson, Matthew Barnes-Smith, Tom Smith, Luke Emmitt, Rich McEvoy, Tom Bray, Gaz Davies, Jordan Widdrington, Pete Allen, John Brotherton, Ollie Giles, Tom Darbyshire, Ollie Higginson, Sam Mullarkey, Adam Bray, Tim Oakes, Sion Williams, Henry Bellis.