Sandbach experienced another home defeat today at the hands of our old rivals in a game that was much more of a contest than the scoreline suggests.
Both teams were fielding understrength sides, with Lymm having several forwards missing and having to rely on the loan of a prop forward to enable contested scrums.
The coaches of both teams thanked Neil Mitchell and Tom Balabil for stepping in and doing a good job on behalf of the visitors in the front row.
It was Sandbach that started the brighter of the two sides and twice had the chance to take an early lead through kicking two penalties but unfortunately both efforts narrowly missed their target.
Lymm gradually got into the game and began to win more and more possession in the breakdowns, the Lymm forwards performing well and beating the Sandbach boys to winning the ball in the ruck on many occasions.
The Lymm backs played with admirable patience as they waited to seize a chance to attack.
With the home side giving away the ball too easily it was only a matter of time before Lymm found out how to unlock a stubborn defence.
Once they did, late in the first half, they ran in four tries in quick succession. It is to Sandbach's credit that they picked up their performance, held onto possession better, and forced the last score of the half to make the half time score 5 vs 20.
The second half saw Sandbach introduce replacements but the pattern of the game was much the same with Lymm scoring early to extend their lead.
However Sandbach rallied and for much of the second half there was a tight contest between the two teams with Sandbach scoring a well taken second try.
Lymm responded with patient, disciplined rugby, again winning most of the rucks and finally wearing down the Sandbach defence to score several late tries with some fine running particularly from their centres.
Lymm were worthy winners today and they missed their absentees far less than Sandbach did theirs.
There are many lessons to be learned for the Sandbach boys who played today, the consolation is that for long spells there wasn't much between the teams. However the difference was that Lymm always had the upper hand by making Sandbach work hard to win the ball and benefited from regularly turning over Sandbach possession. On such differences games are often won or lost.
We thank the Lymm players, coaches and parents for an enjoyable mornings Rugby and look forward to meeting again soon.