‘Lydney lose unbeaten run in thriller.’
Report and Pictures by Roger Pike
Lydney 27 Devonport Services 33
Unbeaten after 5 games this season Lydney faced a tough test against Devonport Services who have come down from the league above writes Roger Pike. The hosts only changes were to welcome back Jack Knox from injury replacing the injured Pat Hanslow plus a couple of replacement changes. The game proved an absolute thriller with Devonport leading for most of the game, a penalty with a few minutes left gave Lydney the lead for the first time only to be denied from a try deep into injury time to leave the hosts with just two league points from a game they should have closed out.
The visitors were on top from the start and scored after just 3 minutes when Tom Davies crossed 0 – 5. Devonport remained camped in the hosts half for the opening 20 minutes and scored again from a forward drive when Sam Brown touched down, Goldsby-West converted 0 -12. The hosts then put together a superb move of interchanges, good breaks by captain Ben Large and Henry Sleeman saw Nelmes offload to Brad Dunn who beat the last defender to score, Ricky Aley added the touchline conversion 7 – 12. From the kick off Lydney collect the ball with Sleeman making huge yards, the offload to Large got them into the 22m where Jack Cuthbert was on hand to collect the pass and touch down to level the scores. Lydney were dominant now good breaks from Bonia, Hodge and Cuthbert got them back on the attack and only a dropped pass stopped another certain score. The hosts should have taken at least one score, and the visitors made them pay with Brown scoring his second try, Goldsby-west converted 12 – 19. The visitors were dominant and only good defence and tackles from Frowen and Dunn stopped another score. With Devonport edging the forward play the hosts brought on Selway and Mullis who made an immediate impact. They created a great chance on halftime when Dunn and Nelmes combined but a drop pass saw the score missed and the half ended 12 -19.
From the kick-off the hosts scored immediately, a superb Cuthbert charge got him into the 22m and a clever exchange of passes with Dunn saw him touchdown out wide 17 -19. The game was now end to end and the visitors scored another converted try through Fordham 17 – 26. The game was a real thriller, from the restart Henry Sleeman again charged through the visitor’s defence offloading to Nelmes to score in the corner, converted by Alley 24 – 26. Both sides were running everything another good Large break saw them again deep into the 22m area, but they failed to capitalise on an easy opportunity. With the visitors on the attack the hosts got a yellow card when Hodge was sent to the bin. With some superb defence the hosts mange out the 10 minutes without conceding and create another good attack through Large who cut through the visitor’s backline on numerous occasions. Winning a penalty on the 10m line Lydney opted to kick and Alley knocked over from long range to get the lead for the first time 27 – 26. With just 7 minutes left the hosts looked to manage out the game and remained camped in the visitor’s half. A penalty saw them reject the points and kick to the corner. Winning the lineout the ball was spun out but the visitors have a stroke of real fortune going for an intercept a pass and running the length of the pitch to score under the posts to end the game 27 – 33. So, heartbreak for Lydney and its Supporters but two points gained from a tough game, they have dropped to third in the table but are now just one point off the leaders.
Director of Rugby Sam Arnott commented ‘It’s hard to take but we have been on the right side of a few close games recently. It was disappointing as we had three good chances in the first half we should have taken. The second was similar and we were just not clinical with our chances so really three points dropped. It does not get any easier as next week we are back in Devon to face Exmouth which again will be a huge game.’
Lydney – Alfie Searls, Jack Knox, James Bonia, Danny Hodge, Jack Cuthbert, Luke Hudson, Harvey Heaven, Kyle Frowen, Tom Broady, Rickie Aley, Henry Sleeman, Ben Large©, Joe Hamlin, Brad Dunn Alex Nelmes. Replacements Nick Selway, Rowan Mullis, Charlie Beddis.
