Could we have had a tougher opener ??

First game of the season and we were away to the mighty Lymm. A cold wind swept over the Cheshire plains as some very pale looking Manchester boys emerged from the changing rooms before kick off. An unexpected and unwelcome long warm-up let us work on our drills but a head count saw us missing some of our most experienced players and we fielded 4 debutants. It was a true baptism of fire against the rugby elite, but Alex, Charlie and both the Joes can be proud of their performances, sadly in the end a Tom Jones coolly slotted last minute penalty was all Manchester had to show for their efforts as they went down to a 44-3 defeat.
the ball at pace and continue the run towards our line. Most of their tries involved at least 4 or 5 pair of hands using this simple but The result was expected against a team that regularly racks up 60+ points against their opponents and very rarely concedes any at all. At half time and 4 tries behind, heads could have gone down but the Manchester lads never gave up and while they conceded another 4 tries against a side considerably freshened up by second half replacements they kept on battling. Manchester ended the game on the front foot becoming one of only a few teams to score points against the well drilled Lymm machine. While our lads gave their all we must acknowledge our opponents who produced a consistent, determined and well drilled performance and thoroughly deserved their win.
Some first timers went into the game wondering what makes Lymm so good? Why have they remained unbeaten for over 2 years? What we found were no 6 foot monsters or individual superstars but a group of decent players exceptionally well drilled in executing team rugby. While we often matched them for heart, determination and individual skill, Lymm delivered a classic lesson in how to offload the ball out of contact, one of the most powerful attacking weapons in the game.
Too often Manchester ran the ball into contact, the Lymm defence wrapped up the runner, soaked up our momentum and we lost possession. Lymm’s unvarying tactic was to pass just before contact so that the M’cr tackler was committed and out of any further play, our next defender couldn’t get to the breach and the Lymm receiver could take devastating technique to quickly move the ball out wide. Despite some courageous last gasp tackling led by Tom Walsh we were too often outnumbered as they crossed over out on the flanks. Hopefully the lessons learned from this match are about the power of keeping the ball moving and the offload.
So new boys were blooded, some were bloodied but all the lads should hold their heads high and as a warm up for the serious stuff to come in the Lancs Cup we could not have asked for a sterner test to kick off our campaign.