Severnsiders lose in Devon
Report and Pictures by Roger Pike
Sidmouth 49 Lydney 22
A day to forget for the Severnsiders as they travelled to Sidmouth. With ex player Sam Arnott getting married a number of players and management were unavailable so Captain Dave Bennet led a very youthful side with a few new faces. Lydney did not really get out of the blocks and were always chasing the game and the hosts pounced clinically on any mistakes. On a positive note the team kept going to the end despite only 14 players, scored a number of good tries and ended with a bonus point to at least have something to show for their afternoon’s endeavours.
The Severnsiders started the brighter and dominated the opening minutes but unfortunately a few unforced errors gifted the home side a number of early tries and Sidmouth ran up 19 points after 30 minutes with no reply. The hosts looked the quicker and keener moving the ball wide on every occasion. With the pitch having a huge width the hosts took advantage of local knowledge and opened the Lydney defence on numerous occasions with some excellent cross kicks to be almost out of sight at 26 – 0 coming up to half time. Lydney finally started to put some moves together and a good scrum saw John Barker pick up and release the backs which enabled Matt Strong to score out wide for the Severnsiders first points at 26 – 5. Sidmouth responded with a penalty goal right on half time for 29 – 5. Lydney started brightly in the second half but cannot convert some good opportunities to get them back in the game. An injury to Jake Bonsor saw him leave the pitch closely followed by Ryan Watling so Lydney were forced to empty the bench and also play some players out of position. It was not surprising to see Sidmouth score again to extend the lead to 39 – 5. Things then got even worse for Lydney as John Barker was unfortunately red carded when handbags were thrown, however it was disappointing the Official did nothing to reprimand the Sidmouth culprit who had been causing the issues all afternoon. Despite being down to 14 this seemed to galvanise Lydney and they played their best rugby in the last 20 minutes. The forwards started to get some momentum with good work from Dave Bennet and Tom Page saw a good move across the backs and Alex Nelmes scored a well-deserved try who gave a superb display at full back all afternoon. Sidmouth replied almost immediately with another cross kick move and extended the score to 44 – 10. The Severnsiders to their credit never gave up and some good pressure by the forwards saw them on the Sidmouth line, from a charged down kick Tom Page pounced on the loose ball to score for 44 – 15. The Severnsiders then chased their 4th try to at least get a bonus point from the game but another handling error gifted the hosts another score. From the restart Lydney regathered the ball and a great move involving forwards and backs saw Matt Strong cross for his second try converted by Alex Peel which gave Lydney the bonus point and a final score of 49 – 22.
Coach Lee Fortey commented ‘we never really got started and gifted them a number of very easy scores so were then always chasing the game. I felt we were then trying to force things to get back into the match and the hosts punished any errors we made. The side was disrupted by the red card and injuries in the second half but I was really pleased with the character and sprit shown by all to keep going and at least we had some reward with scoring 4 tries’