A rather curious game. For half an hour Beverley were all over the place and within twenty minutes had already handed Lymm three tries on a plate. They were simply awful.
It looked like being an embarrassing rout. Yet in the end they were well on top and eventually secured two bonus points. Indeed they might easily have won the match. That they took so long to get going might charitably be attributed to most of the side having hardly played together but the more realistic view is that for half an hour they were merely sloppy and careless.
Lymm took an early lead with a penalty from Cormac Nolan and quickly went 15-0 up with tries by Richard McEvoy and Giles Dugdale, one converted by Nolan. Both tries came from a catalogue of Beverley errors, the first a dropped pass which McEvoy seized on to sprint thirty metres to the line and the second the result of Beverley’s inability to deal with a loose ball.
Beverley’s tackling at this stage was almost non existent and the handling was not much better. Lymm looked likely to score every time they attacked. Richard Bussey at full back had a solid match but Beverley looked particularly vulnerable down their left flank. Worse was soon to follow. Beverley lost a lineout ball on their own throw and flanker Sion Williams crossed for another converted Lymm try. 22-0 and barely twenty minutes gone.
Beverley’s lineout throughout was a mess. Almost every time, for some inexplicable reason, they opted to go long and almost every time the ball failed to find its target. It was hard to remember Beverley winning more than one lineout on their own throw all afternoon.
As the half drew on the game began to change. As in their previous match Beverley started to get themselves together after a disastrous first quarter. A lovely break down the blindside by Tony Maka would have brought a try under the posts had his pass inside not been dropped. Sam Atiola then cut through the middle only to see his try scoring pass hit an opposing player. But Beverley were increasingly now pressing the home line and Maka eventually forced his way over from a tapped penalty. Nolan kicked a penalty for Lymm but two minutes from the break Atiola raced forty metres to the corner for a second Beverley try. At 25-10 Beverley were slowly turning it round and surprisingly after their poor start were now not without hope.
In the second half they continued to gain momentum. Lymm were no longer having an easy ride and their fast running backs were posing fewer problems. Sustained Beverley pressure brought a try for Ben Watson which Jamie Gill converted from wide out and when Gill added a penalty Beverley were within five points at 25-20. They were now in the ascendancy and one more converted try would put them ahead. But in the closing stages a missed tackle in midfield cost them the match. Williams went in for a fourth Lymm try and the home side were more or less home and dry.
Beverley however were not done and in an exciting finish Dave Brant crashed over for a try which Gill converted to give Beverley a losing bonus point and another for their fourth try. Ultimately the day was by no means the disaster for Beverley it had looked like being. A fine autumn afternoon, generous hospitality, and a game played in a good spirit that in the end might have gone either way. In spite of the defeat it left a feeling of general well-being; unless it was the wine at lunchtime.
After their poor start this was good effort by a largely inexperienced Beverley side. Had they not conceded that late Lymm try they would very likely have won this game. There are grounds for optimism and hopefully they can hold their own for the next month or so until they are up to full strength.
Final Score: Lymm 30 Beverley RUFC 27| Reported by John Nursey
