Two evenly matched sides and an exciting encounter at Crouchley Lane. It could have gone either way. Both clubs had got their season off to a good start with fine wins and both set out to build on it here by playing fast attacking rugby. Lymm with the advantage of the slope and blustery wind had the better of the first half.
Afterwards Beverley RUFC clawed their way back and with minutes to go trailed by only two points as they threw everything into going for a winning score. Lymm somehow hung on and sealed it with a penalty at the death to give them the victory that overall they just about deserved.
For the first twenty minutes Beverley RUFC could hardly get out of their own half. They did not help themselves by trying to run everything, even from their own line. But Lymm were kept at bay until centre Mike Swetman with a peach of a drop goal from long range put the home side ahead. Swetman’s hefty kicking in fact was a feature of the game; perhaps, if the truth be known, a crucial one in the conditions.
Beverley RUFC got more into it in the second quarter and Phil Duboulay levelled the scores with a difficult penalty into the wind. For fifteen minutes Beverley RUFC had the upper hand. Duboulay was narrowly wide with two more penalty attempts and it was against the run of play that Lymm regained the lead. As so often with Beverley RUFC the score came from a missed clearance kick to touch.
Lymm won a penalty for a high tackle, kicked to the corner, and from the resulting lineout their pack drove to the line with flanker Ollie Higginson getting the touchdown. It was about the first time in ten minutes they had been in Beverley RUFC territory.
After that Beverley RUFC rather lost their impetus and they never quite recaptured it again. Deep into injury time at the interval Danny Morris was yellow carded for obstruction and full back Andy Rowley kicked the penalty to stretch the lead. Still, at 11-3 down with the advantage of the slope and wind to come it was by no means a discouraging situation for Beverley RUFC at halftime.
They needed an early score to get back into it but like Lymm earlier they found it hard to find openings. Twice Sam Atiola nearly broke clear only to be brought down, once with a last ditch tackle only inches from the line. Duboulay and full back Phil Dale were putting in some lovely line kicks to gain huge amounts of ground but the lineout work was patchy and too often disrupted by Darius Mickses and Sion Williams the two big home locks.
A Duboulay penalty brought it back to 11-6 and Beverley RUFC to within a converted try of victory. For a time Lymm were down to thirteen but Beverley RUFC could not capitalise. A long, raking kick to the corner by Dale led to a Beverley RUFC scrum five metres out. A score then would have done it but the ball was knocked on in midfield and Beverley RUFC’s last clear-cut chance had gone.
Nonetheless Duboulay reduced deficit to 11-9 with a penalty in the dying minutes and Beverley RUFC gave it everything as time ran out. It all became rather frenetic with handling errors and conceded penalties becoming increasingly frequent. The end came as an anti-climax with Rowley kicking a second penalty to clinch it for Lymm with the final action of the match.
Given the numerous changes Beverley RUFC had had to make for this game it was another good team effort despite the result.
Beverley RUFC’s flankers Dale Hodgson and Chris Brant, as well as Adam McKlachie when he came off the bench late on, all played well but it was difficult not to feel that had Beverley RUFC’s absent influential skipper David Worrall been playing the end result just might have been different.
Final score – Lymm 14 Beverley RUFC 9