‘14-man Lydney lose as injury woes continue’.
Report and Pictures by Roger Pike
Barnstable 29 Lydney 14
Lydney faced another tough challenge with a trip to promotion favourites Barnstable writes Roger Pike. With the hosts now third and Lydney one place below a close game was forecast, it was the hosts who just did enough to overcome a 14-man Lydney. The Bledisloe Club however were still without key players, with Brad Barnes, Henry Sleeman, Kyle Frowen, Brad Dunn and Gearard McGurk all missing becomes crucial when playing any top of the table sides. With no recognised scrum half available Arnott had drafted in Josh Pearce from Hartpury for his debut. Lydney started the better, but the game changed with a debateable red card for a Mike Massey tackle deemed high and the visitors put in a herculean effort with 14 for the remainder of the game. Lydney were very unlucky not to come away with something as only eight points separated the teams in the second half, and they had some serious chances to score that were not taken.
Lydney dominated from the off camped in the Barnstable 22m area, a good line out take from Hanslow saw the visitors move deep in the 22m area with drives from Myers and Hudson. Recycling the ball a few forward drives saw centre Ben Large cut an angled run to score, Hanley added the conversion for 0 -7. The hosts responded as expected but some solid Lydney defence held firm. Rielly Scriven then received a debateable yellow card however the visitors hold out numerous attacks. The hosts did finally break the defence when spinning the ball wide Cameron Johnson touched down in the corner 5 – 7. The hosts then dominated but after 20 minutes the well marshalled Lydney defence remained solid. With the visitors conceding several penalties Barnstable kicked to the corner and a forward catch and drive sees Brandon North score with Swales adding the conversion to lead 12 – 7. With the pressure telling Lydney continued to concede penalties from another catch and drive Ben Jago crossed for 19 -7. The match then changed when Massey was given a very debateable red card for a high tackle, from the resulting penalty Swales kicked for 22 – 7 which remained the halftime score.
Arnott made a change at the break sacrificing winger Ben Jones to bring on Louis Jayne to balance the forwards. The 14 men put in a superb effort in the second half with some outstanding individual performances. Rielly Scriven was having an outstanding game, with Hudson, Mullis and Hanslow dominating in the forwards. Ben Large had a great game making numerous breaks and marshalling the defence. Lydney dominated the opening period camped around the hosts 22m area. Winning some penalties themselves they opt to kick to the corners, from a drive stopped just short Sam Baker picked up to score in the corner, a Hanley conversion from the touchline closed the score 22 – 14. Picking up a couple of injuries James Bonia joined the battle making a good impact and looked solid in the scrum. Kurt Brown playing a full 80 minutes was lively making good yards in the loose and always a threat at the breakdown. Lydney had some great scoring opportunities with the hosts in disarray but lost a couple of 5m line outs and a few wrong options with the ball in hand proved costly. With a minute remaining the hosts broke downfield winning a penalty 5m out, with the scrum collapsing the Official decided to award a penalty try and end the game 29 -14.
Head Coach Jarrard Hayler commented ‘We got the fast start we planned and dominated the opening encounters, obviously the red card was unfortunate and impacted the game. However credit to the lads they dug deep and put in a solid display with some great individual performances. We had a couple of injuries in the game, so several players were out of position which did not help the cause. The disappointment however was from the numerous chances we created in the second half we failed to convert to get something from the game, the final score certainly did not reflect the game. We are back in two weeks at Regentsholme for the visit of Brixham, so another tough game with a side near the top of the table.’
Lydney – Rowan Mullis, Sam Baker, Garrett Myers, Mike Massey, Pat Hanslow, Luke Hudson, Kurt Brown, Rielly Scriven, Josh Pearce, Jake Hanley, Conal Mills, Ben Large ©, Sam Harrison, Ben Jones, Alex Nelmes. Replacements James Bonia, Louis Jayne, Tom Rowe.
