The Lancaster Lynx rugby league team have won the BUCS North West 2 league with a 32-14 victory over the University of Manchester seconds. The final victory proved to be the rubber stamp as the Lynx clinched the title of a league they had completely dominated since October. Going into the final fixture with an amazing `goal difference of +190 compared to a pitiful -10 recorded by Manchester, the Lynx knew that there was nowhere else the title could go but back to Lancaster.
The story of the season began back in October when the side recorded an emphatic 64-8 victory away at Edgehill. The team quickly showed however that this type of result was not going to be a one off this season. UCLAN seconds arrived in Lancaster only to find themselves at the hands of an 88-0 thrashing, including an amazing five tries from Adam King.
Whilst Lynx continued to record amazing scores in the league, the league itself began to disintegrate with teams dropping like flies. The next fixture against Salford was cancelled as they dropped out of the league. MMU Cheshire seconds joined the list of deserters, but not before the Lynx had subjected them to a 34-6 defeat in what was easily one of Lancaster’s hardest games of the season. Playing away against MMU, the travelling side faced not only a very physical and hard hitting MMU line, but also a severely strict and aggressive referee who seemed intent to restrict the flow of play with his ruthless reinforcement of the offside rule. Despite sending Paul Davies, Adam King and Adam Lacey all to the sin bin, it was the travelling side who had the last laugh as they outclassed MMU in open play.
The next game saw the club face off against close competitors Manchester seconds who had also won all their games up to that point (although not as convincingly). As the match progressed, it became strikingly obvious that the Lynx were in a class of their own as they welcomed the away side in a way that only the Lynx knew how; by completely annihilating them. Three splendid tries from Danny Myers contributed greatly to the demolition job as the home side ran out 46-0 winners. Ironically, the referee had been much more agreeable to the Lynx even despite the fact that in a fit of jubilation, Chairman Josh Oates had kicked the ball straight into the referee’s unsuspecting face.
As the club increased their fantastic run of form to four wins in a row, a renewed interest in the clubs performances led to an appearance on LA1TV’s flagship show ‘Sportscaster’. ‘Sportcaster’ threw up some of its own proud moments for the club in the form of an amazing cross bar challenge kick from Gareth Houghton, and more notably the occurrence of a blossoming romance between presenter Laura Johnson and club casanova, Paul Davies.
Unfortunately for the Lynx, problems elsewhere in the league meant that their next opponents, Edgehill, were unable to field a team. UCLAN faced the same problem a week later which meant Lynx would have to wait until the New Year to continue their league campaign even though by this point the league was a full gone conclusion.
The Lynx faced a tough final fixture away at Manchester seconds with the addition of several players from the first team to the Manchester ranks. Ultimately however, the Lynx were able to claim the victory with tries from Adam Lacey, Danny Myers, Josh Oates, Jordan Shard, Matthew Buckland and Dennis Tate, and some stand out performances from Lacey, Mike Gibson and Max Brown.
With Lynx being crowned league champions without even having conceded a single point against a league opponent at home, the cup looks to be very promising. The potential of playing top super eight sides looks mouth watering to the Lynx who will be desperate to demonstrate their great attacking flair against some more challenging opponents.
