A blustery, but, thankfully, dry November day took us to Rugby pitches in Appleton where we (nor our hosts, Lymm) had ever played before.
Still suffering a little from our injury list, this was an opportunity to try out some of our newer players but, even with Lymm fielding its second team, the opposition was always going to be tough as they have great strength in depth.
We made a slow start (have I heard this before?) and Lymm put real pressure on in the breakdown where they were consistently more aggressive and eager for ball. Lymm were kept from scoring on several occasions by desperate defending (and with some good tackling) near the Sandbach try line. The only time that we took the ball into the Lymm half was from a good run from the scrum half but, apart from that, we were on the back foot. The pressure eventually told and Lymm went over in the right corner field but could not convert.
We made a better fist of the first half from the restart and in the last 5 minutes of the half looked more balanced and eager to compete.
The second half was not good. We did not compete in the breakdown and Lymm’s better discipline and aggression let them run in 4 further tries with very little sign of the possibility of any score from the boys in green. Kicking, tackling and rucking need attention. Our scrum and maul was good but a desire by the forwards for the ball is missing. Plenty to work on.
Lymm 27 – Sandbach 0
Thanks you, as always, to Lymm for your hospitality and we look forward to improving our performance in R1 of the Cheshire Cup!