Match Report: Lymm 21 Wharfedale 22

Bright sunshine greeted the faithful and the squad when they arrived in Cheshire for the match against newly promoted Lymm. There was a lot of sweat out on the pitch but thankfully no tears as Dale scored a converted try in the 80th minute to secure a narrow victory. The visitors should have done enough to win the game before then. A push over try from a scrum ended only with a penalty; a Gaudie try was not allowed as by the time the ref came around to look the ball was off the ground; three penalty shots went begging.

Lymm started well and were helped by Dale again conceding penalties. In this early period the count was 6 to 1 against Dale. This gave Lymm a good territorial advantage and they used this to be 11- 5 up after 26 minutes. Cormac Nolan landed a kick from the tee from 42 metres and James Pitcher scored an unconverted try after a clever line-out move caught Dale napping. Nolan added another penalty. Dale did counter with an unconverted try of their own in this period when their solitary penalty led to an attacking 5-metre line-out. The Green Machine successfully engineered a catch and drive with Jack Pinder touching down.

Dale stepped up a gear and moved into the lead with a James Coulton converted try and a penalty. Slack defence allowed the Cheshire brigade to end the half in front with a converted try by Callum Morris.

Dale then had the lion’s share of territory and possession but could not add to their tally. It was Lymm that added another three points to extend their lead. They held that lead until the 80th minute when Louis Verity broke through the line carrying two defenders with him to score. Davidson had the winning kick and this time did not miss to earn Dale the 4 points and a justified victory. Dale had to do some game management to secure the win and apart from one errant kick they did this efficiently.

Sam Gaudie and Ben Wright were probably Dale’s outstanding players on the day, but all the squad contributed in the searing heat on a plastic pitch. The forwards are looking forward to some rain and a grass pitch with a hint of mud around. Nevertheless, the pack worked hard all afternoon and should be commended for their work. They were dominant in the scrum, and the line-out was 80% successful whilst keeping Lymm to 67%. The ball was moved around well by the backs but hats off to the home defence for not allowing the speedy Dale backs to run riot.