Wirral Avenge Home Defeat With a Bonus Point Win at Cheshire Opposition

With two wins under their belt in 2015, Wirral travelled to Lymm with optimism and the squad selected was identical to last week. Wirral elected to play with the strong wind in the first half as well as Lymm playing with the sun in their eyes.
In the first few minutes Lymm had the territory advantage until Wirral managed to kick long downfield and were rewarded with a penalty which they turned down and took the scrum, took the ball wide and CRAIG HARVEY put in JAMES ANNETTS who scored in the corner and then converted his own try from the touchline. 0-7 (7 minutes).
Lymm came back and Wirral almost gifted them a try when not clearing a loose ball but Lymm winger, Nolan could not take advantage. At this stage, Lymm had the territorial advantage and on 22 minutes were on the scorecard with a penalty from in front of the posts through Cormac Nolan. Three minutes later, JAMES ANNETTS landed a penalty from some 25 m out. 3-10 (25 minutes).
Wirral were using the wind to good effect in keeping pressure on Lymm in their half. On 30 minutes a speculative kick to the Lymm in goal area and a fumble by the Lymm full back left JAMES ANNETTS with the formality of touching down and he again converted from the touchline to extend the lead to 3-17, with JAMES having scored all the Wirral points at that stage.
Lymm continued to use their backs to make progress and an overlap gave Lymm winger, Nolan an opportunity only for him to put his foot in touch as he dived for the line but did not ground the ball properly in any event. From this position Lymm maintained pressure on Wirral and were rewarded with a try in the other corner from winger, Andy Rowley- the try was not converted.
On the stroke of half time, Wirral were back in the Lymm 20m area and had the ball and were not making any progress, the ball came out to CRAIG HARVEY with a number of Lymm players in front of him but weaved his way through the throng to score under the posts, duly converted by JAMES ANNETTS to leave the score 8-24 to Wirral at half time.
The question in Wirral spectators mind was the lead big enough to see them through to the end of the game as no doubt Lymm would look to use the wind for territorial purposes. Wirral made two changes, TIM HODSON and KEITH MAHON on for PAUL LEWIS and CHRIS BURROWS respectively.
The second half started with Lymm using the wind effectively to keep Wirral in their 20m area and on 45 minutes, ALI BAKER was sin binned but it appears it was a case of mistaken identity. With Wirral one man down and Lymm in control of the ball, the Lymm prop, Jordan Widdrington crashed over 20m from the posts but the conversion was missed. 13-24 (46 minutes). MIKE WARREN came on for TOM PARRY. Lymm continued applying pressure in the Wirral 20m area and stretched the away sides defence to leave Lymm captain, Sion Williamson with a walk in try in the corner, again the try was not converted. 18-24 (50 minutes).
Wirral went back to basics and the forwards controlled the ball in making the hard metres into the Lymm half and then the 20 area before releasing the ball and CRASIG HARVEY ran at the Lymm defence and forced his way through to score under the posts, JAMES ANNETTS converted to extend the Wirral lead to 18-31 (60minutes).
Wirral were finding it easier to make progress against the wind than Lymm, which included a kick to touch by JAMES ANNETTS which went over the wingers head yet still bounce into touch. From this position, Lymm dropped the ball and Wirral kicked ahead, the full back missed the ball and Wirral kicked on the ball bouncing up for ALI BAKER to pick up and run the 30m unopposed to score under the posts. Alas the referee metres away disallowed the try on the basis that the winger was in front of the kicker- 70 minutes.
The final 15 minutes which included 9 minutes of injury time – no one was injured other than when CRAIG was tackled off the ball, an incident which the referee saw but only awarded a penalty! Lymm applied pressure as they went for a converted try which would give them 2 points out of the game. Full time came and went and on a couple of occasions, the Wirral wingers stopped almost certain tries from their opposite numbers. Lymm had Wirral pinned on their line but they could not break through the away side defence and on one occasion were deemed to have been held up over the line. With the last play of the game Lymm were using their forwards to attack the Wirral line and in the 89th minute, Lymm prop Jason Widdrington crashed over under the posts and Andy Rowley converted. The conversion was their first of the game but it did give Lymm 2 points out of this game.
On reviewing the game, both sides scored 4 tries and a penalty but the difference was the three conversions (two from the touchline) by JAMES ANNETTS. This was a great result for this young team given the defeat that Wirral suffered against Lymm at home but the teams on that day were much different to that which took the field on Saturday.
The bonus points that Lymm gleaned so late on allowed them to have a one point advantage over Wirral in the league as the away side move up a position and now have Lymm within their sights.
The next first team match is in a fortnight (31st January) against Burnage, at home; as there are no scheduled league matches next week.
Richard McNeil