Drybrook vs Lydney

A huge crowd turned out at the Manning’s ground for the Drybrook derby, both sides needed a win after losing their opening fixtures. This was always going to be a tight affair and so it proved with Lydney deserving the win on a good second half display writes Roger Pike.

The hosts were certainly up for the game spurred on by their supporters but lacked the cutting edge to breech a well organised Lydney defence. With eight players injured Lydney had to reshuffle the side and a brought in Costner Lane and Gareth Winter at prop, Phil Williams moved into the second row, Jordan Fowke and Liam Downer joining Mars Slee in the back row. Out in the backs the only change was Brad Dunn back on the wing. The injuries forced Lydney to include Rob White and Luke Hudson on the bench who both had played the previous evening in Lydney’s second team game win over Drybrook seconds and Sam Arnott having to make an immediate return from retirement to help out.

The hosts started the better and had the Severnsiders under pressure in the opening encounters. Drybrook went close but a knock on ended their attack close to the line. Continued pressure saw the hosts win a penalty which Tom Treherne calmly knocked over for 3 – 0. The Severnsiders created a couple of breaks with Sleeman and Joe McClean but the game remained fairly even in the first quarter both sides having opportunities but the match remained scoreless. A poor Lydney clearance kick sees the hosts deep in Lydney half winning another penalty but the relatively easy kick was put wide by Treherne. The Severnsiders started to get some good possession and put pressure on the hosts defence, some good forward drives from Walter, Harrison Fowke and Winter sees them deep in hosts 22m area and forcing the hosts to give a penalty away. The official had little option to bin the Drybrook forward and from a quick tap Brad Barnes caught the home defence napping and touched down to give Lydney the lead at 3 – 5. The hosts responded with some pressure of their own from the kick off and won another penalty in midfield which Treherne kicked to get the lead back at 6 – 5 which remained the halftime score.

The second period started relatively even with the Severnsiders looking the more dangerous in attack. The hosts earned another penalty for offside and the unlucky Joe Hamlin was sent to the bin. Again the hosts opted for the kick and Treherne extended the lead to 9 – 5. Lydney manged out the time with 14 players and looked the more likely to score with some good drives from Jordan Fowke and Walter with Phil Williams winning some secure lineout ball to set up attacks. The Severnsiders did win a penalty on halfway but the kick from Barnes fell just short. Lydney emptied their bench on 60 minutes with Arnott making a major impact managing the game at scrum half. Lydney were now camped in the hosts half but despite good moves in the backs with Dunn, Sleeman and McClean the hosts kept them out. The pressure was telling and another penalty saw Barnes kick to the corner. Williams secured the line out and a couple of forward drives saw Arnott spin a quick pass to Joe McClean on a diagonal run to go clean through the hosts defence to score Lydneys second try. Barnes kicked the conversion and the Severnsiders had a deserved lead at 9 – 12. Despite Drybrook throwing everything at Lydney in the last 5 minutes the defence was solid and they never looked like crossing the whitewash so Lydney held on for a deserved win.

Director of Rugby Sam Arnott ‘We needed a reaction from the players after last week’s performance and really pleased with the response. We trained hard this week and the coaches helped put right last week’s issues for a much improved performance. Yes we still have lots to work on but we are a young improving side. To win a local derby is never easy, they are a good experienced side at this level, we stuck to our game plan so really proud of the character we showed today’