JAMES Bashford joined an elite band of Lydney players by making his 200th appearance in this comfortable win at Hinckley.

Bashford marked the achievement by staying sober on Saturday night and running the Stroud Half-Marathon on Sunday!

The 34-year-old lock – who has taken 13 years to get to the landmark during three spells at Regentsholme – said: "I felt guilty about not having a drink but I'll make up for it when we play in Worthing. That's a proper away game."

Once considered a hot head (even though he was sent off for the first time in a Lydney shirt only last season), Bashford says he has learned how to channel his aggression into his rugby.

He said: "The atmosphere at Lydney has always been brilliant and it still is.

"Some of the players in the side are deceptively young, but age doesn't really come into it.

"I think Chris Holder is 32 and Charlie Vine 31, while others like Jim McMahon and Craig Jones just act old.

"People certainly haven't started asking me for advice in the dressing room."

Lydney scored three tries to Hinckley's one on Saturday through the impressive Tim Longton (2) and Ben Lewis.

Brett Turner's reliable boot did the rest as the visiting pack squeezed the life out of Hinckley.

To stop the hosts from scoring a single point on their own turf is no mean achievement.

Bashford – who made his Lydney debut in a cup game against Amersham & Chiltern in 1997 – said: "It was a potential banana skin, but we were quite clinical – which is surprising for a Lydney side.

"It was a forwards orientated game and we kept it tight and used the driving maul well.

"Hinckley have lost a lot of games by just a few points and I think they targeted us as someone they could beat."

Bashford says he has no plans to retire anytime soon.

Why should he when he is playing some of the best rugby of his career?

He said: "I thought it might be different this season with the likes of Paul and Steve Price, Paul Kiely, Jimmy Roberts and Dean Jenkins no longer around, but the young guys have come in and done really well.

"To me it's the same old Lydney and I don't feel any different to when I started. It's the atmosphere at the club that I'd miss most if I stopped playing."

Lydney: Tony Wicks, Chris Holder, Brett Turner, Doug Freeman, Rob Sargent, Craig Jones, Lee Thomas, Nick Stoneman, Ben Lewis, Nick Selway, James Bashford, Jim McMahon, Tim Longton, Will Jones (capt), Matt Taylor. Reps: Leigh Green, Dave Emery, Dave Bennett, Simon Doust, Josh Hanham.