Lymm preview
After a 16-10 win in their toughest test so far in Wirral last weekend, Huddersfield RU will look to make it eight wins from as many against Lymm at Lockwood Park- kick off at an earlier 2:15pm.
The Field sit top of National North Three having maintained their 100% record since their last home fixture in the cup against Sheffield three weekends ago, but coach Gareth Lewis knows his side must perform better to achieve maximum points in a crucial fixture.
“Against Wirral, we took our foot off the pedal. You can never take your foot off the pedal. As soon as you take it off, you get weak. And we can’t afford to get weak, because we want to be the best team we can be. We’ve got to keep improving.
“The players are enjoying their rugby at the moment, but it’s important they understand they have to keep getting better. We are proud of our efforts in the first third of the season but we’ve got to get better.”
Lymm are 8th in the table after both winning and losing four of their first eight games and they ended a three-match losing streak as they beat Firwood Waterloo 45-7 last weekend.
The Cheshire side are also one of only two teams to beat second placed Rossendale this season and have as many winning try bonus points as the Field with four.
Huddersfield, though, have only conceded 84 points all season and will look to continue that feat when they return at home.
Starting off where they left off, the Field have won two away matches in a row with a spectacular 58-9 victory against Ilkley before overcoming Wirral last Saturday .
Lewis’ side will need to keep up their form as Rossendale sit just five points behind them.
“Lymm have beaten Rossendale and Doncaster Phoenix convincingly this season so we know we will need to be much improved on last week. They finished in third place last season and have ambitions to play in National Two. However, we are at home and the players have a real spring in their step having come through an incredibly tough conditioning block recently.”
Lewis has also made some changes to his squad. Tom Kanouros making his first league start of the season as leading try scorer Elliot Hodgson starts on the bench after overcoming illness.
Nick Rhodes is also out with medial ligament strain to his knee which see’s Adam Malthouse return to the starting XV and Ben Hoyle starts as blind side flanker. Although taken off at half time with illness against Wirral, Adam Tamanis will start against Lymm as Ben Morrill drops to the bench.
