‘Lydney lose with below par performance.’
Report and Pictures by Roger Pike
Lydney 32 Chew Valley 36
Without a win in 2025 following a tough run of fixtures this was a critical game for Lydney to get their season back on track writes Roger Pike. A rejuvenated Chew Valley with four consecutive wins would provide a stern test battling against relegation and so it proved. Despite three tries from man of the match Rielly Scriven Lydney were second best on the field and spurned numerous scoring chances. Although they did pick up two bonus points the difference was in execution with the visitors taking their chances and Lydney once again over playing with some poor options with the try line beckoning. A few changes this week in the backline had Broady, Hanley, and Dunn all starting for the first time in a while and Rielly Scriven was back from injury in the pack.
Chew started liked they meant business were camped in the Lydney half, with the hosts looking very lack lustre the visitors soon scored following a kick to the corner. The pack secured the line out and Scott Parsons crossed, Dan Brooker added the conversion for 0 – 7. It was 0 – 14 soon after when Dean Brooker picked the ball up in a ruck and ran straight through unopposed under the posts. The hosts did respond trying to spin the ball around and the classy Brad Dunn beat two defenders to score out wide 5 – 14. The hosts had a brief spell on the attack with a good break from Nelmes and Sleeman but another knock on stopped the attack. Lydney then picked up a yellow card for Hanslow and Chew took full advantage. Kicking the penalty to the corner their big forwards easily drove over for 5 – 19. From the restart a penalty for the hosts saw Jake Hanley kick for 8 -19. The visitors then received a yellow card for a high tackle, with it deep into injury time Hanley opted to kick for 11 – 19 at the break.
Following the halftime talk from Arnott Lydney were out of the blocks. A good run from Frowen was offloaded to Deans- Smith who made huge meters down into the 22m area. However as was to prove their downfall Lydney could just not fashion a score and butchered some easy chances to score. The hosts were also guilty of giving away a huge penalty count, following a couple more Chew were soon deep in the Lydney half and Dan Brooker scored again for 11 – 24. The hosts as expected responded immediately and Rielly Scriven crossed, Hanley converted 18 -24. However, the Lydney defence was soon breeched again and Brooker scored again 18 -31. The hosts battered away at the Chew try line but again some poor decision making saw them held up over the line and the visitors escaped. With their next attack the visitors scored again through a soft Lydney defence and the game was virtually gone 18 -36. Lydney did batter away using their forwards with Mullis, Hanslow, Massey and Scriven putting in some hard yards. A further set of drives saw Scriven cross which Broady converted 25 – 36. With time running down Lydney needed another try to get something from the game. A good move with the backs saw Deans-Smith score out wide only for the official to have blown for an off the ball incident. The hosts did get their reward from the restart when Scriven crashed over for his third try, Broady added the extras, and the game ended 32 -36. Lydney face a tough trip to Exmouth next week followed by a home fixture against Ivybridge so two huge games in the coming weeks.
Director of Rugby Sam Arnott commented ‘It was a poor start we conceded three soft scores and we were always chasing the game. We lacked energy today and the visitors just wanted it more, our discipline was poor, we gave away numerous penalties which gifted them a couple of their scores. We must execute when we get our chances, this has proved the difference in recent weeks. Against a team near the bottom this performance was simply not acceptable and with just three games left we need to put some wins on the board’
Lydney – Rowan Mullis, Sam Baker, James Bayliss, Mike Massey, Pat Hanslow, Luke Hudson, Kyle Frowen, Rielly Scriven, Tom Broady, Jake Hanley, Henry Sleeman, Ben Large©, Sam Harrison, Brad Dunn, Alex Nelmes. Replacements Garrett Myers, Jack Knox, Ellis Deans-Smith.
