1st XV v Lymm 4

Holmes Chapel made the short trip to Lymm, knowing a difficult game lay ahead. They were keen however to retain top spot over Christmas and Captain Moss demanded a good performance from the villagers.

Lymm were unfortunately short on number, so Chapel had loaned them verteran prop Ian Lightfoot. In difficult conditions, the Chapel pack were holding their own Callum Grant-Smith and And Joe Foulkes in the thick of the action at the breakdown ensuring Chapel had good ball. A early penalty from Andy Davies settled the visitors nerves and It wasn't long long before a well worked move through the forwards lead to a Foulkes break, he showed good strength to beat the Lymm defence and power over to give Chapel the lead.

Chapel now had an increased confidence as thing were going there way. Lymm are not however a team to just lie down and they proved that with some fierce tackling. Chapel were able to weather the storm when the backs moved the ball wide Tom Lowe was on hand to out srpint the defenders and chapel were two up.

Shortly after individual skill from Chapel's try machine Jed Wragg stretched the lead further. Lymm then had a period on top as the showed good hands and support running to gain good yards up field. Chapel's defence held strong as they were able to clear their lines, courtesy of the trusty boot of Jack Cottam. As Chapel broke upfield, the backs again worked the ball wide, big Gavin Paton breaking through and off loading the ball to Wragg who took full advantage to complete his hat trick.

The second half continued in the same vain and more tries followed, Wragg added another shortly after the break, swifly followed by a fine effort from Luke Day. Lymm again showed determination as theywent close themselves but good defence from Harry Jeans kept them out.

It was then Grant-Smith who got in on the act with a pure poachers try from the back of the ruck. Wragg then added a couple more to complete his double hatrick and ensure Chapel will be top of the table over Christmas.

Captain Moss was delighted with the performance, he said, “today was much harder than the result suggested, but we managed to keep the pressure on for 80 minutes. There were afew noticable performances, obviously Wragg was outstanding again, but debutant Conor Newby also did well when he got on. We now need to keep this form going into 2016”.

Chapel were also delighted to participate in Santa Hat Saturday as the players and spectators donned Santa Hats in the warm up and donated to the Joining Jack Charity. The event included participants from several North West rugby clubs and Chapel raised £270 for a very good cause that focuses on finding a cure for Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy.