Saturday, September 27th, 2008
North Two West
WILMSLOW 33 LYMM 0

WILMSLOW thumped Lymm 33-0 in one of the most satisfying victories at Pownall Park in years.
It was a win engineered at half back, forged up front and executed out wide in an exciting display of all-round rugby.
Lymm will say they didn’t play well in the late Summer sunshine. Wilmslow did not allow them to play well.

The visiting pack was pushing hard in the scrum right up to the final whistle. But the Wolves gave as good as they got up front despite some Neanderthal intimidation and laid the foundation for a superb victory.
The intelligent kicking of fly-half Bob MacCallum , whose booming boot pinned Lymm in their own territory for much of the game, was matched by the box kicking of his half-back partner Charlie Mulchrone at scrum half.

The back row of Danny Jones, Rich Williams and Jonny Lee spiked every Lymm attack and lock forwards Al McLennan and Mike Clifford were supreme at the line-out, fed with pinpoint accuracy by the diligent young hooker Johnny Barltrop.

But while Wilmslow deserved every second of their celebrations, which lasted well into the night, they know they face a tougher test at unbeaten Rochdale – second only on points difference behind Altrincham Kersal – on Saturday. Wilmslow’s win hauled them up four places from ninth to fifth last week, while Rochdale won 34-27 at Sandbach.

Coach Darren Lucas praised his team’s “complete” performance. Following the previous week’s frustrating defeat at Northwich he said: “Sometimes you learn more in defeat than victory. What last week highlighted was the base for this win. Aspects and problems were addressed, as well as sturcture and function.
“They worked really hard in training and it all culminated in this complete performance. Every unit performed its role; the forwards did their job and provided the platform, the backs used the ball well and straight running set up good openings.”

Lucas also observed that against Northwich, with one man in the sin-bin, they leaked 14 points in the last 10 minutes. Against Lymm, with Jonny Lee off with an injured shoulder for the last 10, and all substitutes used, Wilmslow put six points on the board: “That shows how much better organised we were.”

It was Bob MacCallum’s golden boot that set the Lexus Stockport-sponsored Wolves on the road to victory in the sixth minute. A towering kick deep into their 22 was followed by an audacious steal of the visitors’ lineout ball. It was whipped along the line quickly and full back Ben Day joined on the outside to score out wide. MacCallum missed the conversion, but added a penalty nine minutes later to give his side an 8-0 lead.

Lymm looked like scoring from the restart, but sacrificed a two-on-one advantage on the Wolves’ try-line when Ben Day tackled the man in possession, who had got his pass away, only for the recipient to drop the ball. Wilmslow made hard work of the resulting scrum, losing the put-in but surviving the onslaught and kicking clear.

On 26 minutes, McLennan soared at a lineout in the Lymm 22. No.8 Jones burst through the front of the line and desperate Lymm tackles to feed flanker Williams who scored and MacCallum converted. 15-0.

Lymm hooker Nick Girdlestone earned himself a talking to for scrapping before the break, then stamped on a Wilmslow body in a ruck to follow it up with a yellow card. The Wolves capitalised from the resulting kick into Lymm’s 22. Jones probed the front of the line again, this time crashing through three tackles to score in the corner. MacCallum’s majestic conversion gave Wilmslow a thoroughly deserved 22-0 lead.

It was that man Jones again – just five minutes into the second period – chasing down a Mulchrone box kick – who pinned Lymm in their own 22 by forcing a scrappy clearance kick. The Wolves won the lineout and pressed relentlessly – white line fever gripping some of the younger players momentarily. But when the ball was finally – and sensibly – passed out wide, winger Rich Wood scored in the corner.
MacCallum added two penalties to keep the scoreboard ticking over, but it was all 18 players – substitutes included – who were responsible for keeping a clean sheet.

The sight of prop Andy Vassell charging through a ruck to snaffle Lymm ball and break away was a joy to behold. Last ditch, try-saving tackling and heart-in-the-mouth, on-your-own-line pressure is now a staple diet at Wilmslow. They will need to dig even deeper next week when they visit Rochdale, but what a way to go!