Severnsiders lose close encounter in Cornwall
Report and Pictures by Roger Pike
St Austell 16 Lydney 10
On a glorious but windy day down in Cornwall the top of the table clash finally arrived for the Severnsiders. Lydney fielded a strong side writes Roger Pike, in the pack Jack Spencer returned to bolster the front row with Harrison Fowke and Ashley Howells at hooker. Mike Massey and Jimmy Walters were in the power house with an unchanged back row of Hudson, Scriven and Kislingbury. In the backs Joe Hamlin moved into Fly half with Jack O Connell starting a new centre partnership with Joe McClean, Brad Dunn returned on the wing. On the bench saw John Barker, Captain James Pugh and Tom Broady who would be rotated on during the game. This was the first of two critical away games in the Severnsiders title ambitions but despite a good performance ill-discipline was to cause a narrow defeat. Lydney were always in the game however even the neutral would question some of the Officials decisions that clearly did not help the visitors. With very windy conditions this always looked a close encounter and so it proved with the home side just having enough to take the win.
Lydney started the game brightly and had a period of good possession in the hosts half. Some good attacks saw winger Nathan Tucker tackled just short of the line. St Austell started to get some possession with some forward drives, big Karl Marriott made good ground all afternoon. The hosts had a period of possession in the Lydney 22m area, a couple of penalties were kicked to the corner but the away side’s solid defence held out. However more pressure and forward drives eventually saw the defence crack and second row Mark Vian crossed to open the score 5 – 0 . With 20 minutes gone the hosts are still having the bulk of possession and only a knock on stops them scoring a second try. Lydney responded with a good move getting into the hosts 22m area, some good attacks were eventually halted with an offside and from the resulting penalty Joe Hamlin kicked the points for 5 – 3. Both teams continued to run the ball on every occasion making for an entertaining game. On the half hour Lydney lost Joe Hamlin to injury and Tom Broady came on at outside half. Another good attack saw Brad Dunn tackled just short, the Severnsiders continued to push for a score but failed to cross the whitewash and the half ended 5 – 3.
The Severnsiders started brightly in the second period and the game remained even. The hosts had a couple of attacks but a strong tackle from Joe McClean forced a knock on and Lydney cleared their lines. A high tackle gave the hosts another penalty which they opted to kick and Shepherd extended the lead to 8 – 3. A quick tap penalty from Sam Arnott was spun out to Brad Dunn who was only stopped deep in the hosts half. The game then started to take a few twists, on the next attack the hosts were awarded a penalty when Jack O’Connell was yellow carded for retaliation following foul play from the hosts. Against 14 the hosts mount a wave of attacks and full back Cav Boyer scrambles across the line when tackled. The official then gave a red card to Alex Nelmes and the Severnsiders were down to 13 and the score moved to 13 – 3. This seemed to galvanise the Severnsiders and the 13 players kept the hosts out with some strong defence. Lydney then managed an attack only to be stopped by a high tackle and it was 14 against 13. Back to 14 the Severnsiders started to make some good attacks with prop Jack Spencer making good ground. Arnott kicked the ball over the breakdown and O’Connell regathered the ball but was stopped just short. With the hosts trying to run out of their 22m area a Joe McClean tackle was deemed high and Lydney were back to 13. However with time running out Lydney finally crossed with Riley Scriven scoring, Broady added the extras and it was a tense last minute at 13 – 10. From the restart Lydney knock on and gave away a penalty, the hosts decide to kick and Shepherd adds the three to end the game 16 – 10.
Head Coach Dave Emery commented ‘a disappointing result, I thought we played well but in a tight game some key decisions did not help our case. Cornwall is a tough place to come and they are a good side but I thought we matched then around the park. We do get a bonus point but remain in third place however we have a game in hand on the sides above us
so still in the title mix.’
Lydney – Harrison Fowke, Ashley Howell, Jack Spencer, Mike Massey, Jimmy Walter, Brad Kislingbury, Luke Hudson, Riley Scriven, Sam Arnott, Joe Hamlin, Brad Dunn, Jack O Connell, Joe McClean, Nathan Tucker, Alex Nelmes. Replacements: James Pugh (c) Tom Broady, John Barker.