‘Lydney win ensures safety.’
Report and Pictures by Roger Pike
Lydney 33 Ivybridge 16
A huge crowd turned out at Regentsholme for the last home league fixture where a win would guarantee Lydney remain in level 5 for next season writes Roger Pike. Following some tough fixtures against the top sides in recent weeks it was critical the Bledisloe club got back to winning ways and a couple of wins to end the season would put them back towards mid-table. Pat Hanslow returned to the second row; Henry Sleeman moved to the centre with Ellis Deans-Smith on the wing. The bench of Harrison, Knox and Myers made it a strong Lydney squad. Just two points would ensure safety, but the hosts put on a nervous but workmanlike performance to overcome the visitors from Ivybridge and got five valuable points which achieved the double over their Devon rivals.
Lydney opted to play up the slope and dominated the opening encounters with much of the game in the visitors 22m area. The hosts were winning some good lineout ball though Hanslow and Massey, an attack on the 22m line saw a superb flat pass from Frowen to Ben Large who crashed through the defence to score, Jake Hanley added the conversion for 7 – 0 after just five minutes. Lydney dominated the opening quarter with the visitors unable to get out of their own half. However, Lydney created some superb chances but could not execute that final scoring pass. First Brad Dunn crossed following a flowing back move, but the official disallowed it for a forward pass. Then a good run by Henry Sleeman made ground into the 22m area to offload to Deans-Smith who was tackled just short and the visitors escaped. Another certain score went begging when Mullis knocked on 20 meters out with no defence ahead. Ivybridge finally got an attack going and won a penalty just inside the hosts half, opting to kick Matt Grieveson kicked for 7 – 3. The hosts then suffered a blow when Rielly Scriven was forced off injured, another Ivybridge penalty saw Grieveson narrow the gap 7 – 6. The hosts upped the tempo with some good runs from Brad Dunn who was proving unplayable making huge ground every time he had the ball. With the hosts deep in the 22m area the ball was spun out for Henry Sleeman to crash through his opposite number to score under the posts, again Hanley was on target 14 – 6. Despite plenty of possession the hosts could not create a move to add to their score and the half ended.
The second half saw Lydney again dominate the opening encounters with good breaks from Sleeman and Dean-Smith were unlucky not to create a score. From a penalty Hanley kicked to the corner where from another Hanslow lineout win Frowen was stopped just a meter short, but the alert Broady picked up and touched down, the conversion added 21 – 6. The hosts continued to dominate, another Dean-Smith run saw them deep in the 22m area, a penalty followed which Hanley kicked to the corner. The line out won saw a forward drive to the line and Sam Baker crashed over, again Hanley slotted the conversion 28 -6. Another score should have followed with some good play from Sleeman and Dean-Smith but a knock on ended the move. The visitors did not give up and scored following a missed tackle through Giles Clark 28 -11. The hosts were then unlucky not to score when king of the turnovers Kyle Frowen striped a ball which found Dunn unopposed to run in and score, but the official disallowed for a high tackle. Lydney then had a poor ten minutes and conceded a few penalties allowing the visitors to spin the ball around, full back James Catlin crossed out wide 28 -16. Lydney did get the final score deep in injury time when Garret Myers got a deserved score to end the game 33 – 12. With better execution in the first half the hosts would surely have scored fifty points, but the win ensures safety and can look forward to next season with a game remaining.
Director of Rugby Sam Arnott commented ‘A deserved win and happy to take the five points, we controlled the opening quarter, but our execution once again let us down with numerous missed chances which should have put us out of sight by the break. We killed the game early in the second half but ended with a poor 20 minutes that gifted them two scores. However a win and job done, we resume in two weeks’ time for our final league fixture away at Marlborough.’
Lydney – Rowan Mullis, Sam Baker, James Bayliss, Mike Massey, Pat Hanslow, Luke Hudson, Kyle Frowen, Reilly Scriven, Tom Broady, Jake Hanley, Ellis Deans-Smith, Ben Large©, Henry Sleeman, Brad Dunn, Alex Nelmes. Replacements Garret Myers, Sam Harrison, Jack Knox
