National Two South

Canterbury 22

PLAYER/COACH Duncan Bell says he couldn't even remember his date of birth or how old he was after suffering a broken eye socket and concussion on a sorry day for Lydney.

It was the first bone he'd ever broken on a rugby field in his long and illustrious career.

He said: "It wasn't malicious – I took it upon myself to try and stop a driving line-out, got too low and received a knee in the head."

Bell was taken to Frenchay Hospital by his fiance after returning home and will be out of action for at least six weeks. His injury compounded a miserable day for the Severnsiders.

"We were abject to say the least," said the ex-England and Bath prop.

"Canterbury deserve respect but our worst two performances of the season have come against them.

"We missed tackles, our scrum was poor, we couldn't stop the driving line-outs and we had no discipline or leadership. We were clueless."

An injury to skipper Matt Taylor in the pre-match warm-up didn't help the cause.

Jim McMahon came into the starting XV at short notice.

A forgettable first half saw Canterbury take a 7-6 lead. Peter Kelly's 17th minute try was the highlight for the hosts.

With the slope and the wind in their favour Lydney had the elements on their side in the second half but, if anything, they got even worse.

Canterbury scored two more tries through Wym Bars and Scott Browne, while all the visitors could muster was a Danny Trigg penalty, adding to his brace of kicks in the first half.

"If I hadn't been away with the fairies I would have laid into them," said Bell.

"Ironically, our best passage of play came when we were down to 14 men with Dave Bennett in the sin-bin.

"We've got a crunch match this Saturday against Southend and I've let the players know how important it is.

"I think Christmas got in the way, but we cannot use that as an excuse."

Lydney: Tony Wicks, Josh Hannam, Chris Holder, Josh Innes, Mike Dodge, Danny Trigg, Jason Graham, Sam Winchcombe, Ben Lewis (Jake Fields 64), Andy Jarrett (Duncan Bell 40), Jim McMahon (Ben Taylor 68), Dave Bennett, Tim Longton, Will Jones, Charlie Daniel.

LYDNEY United made it six wins in a row by beating Old Patesians III 52-10.

Tries were scored by James Bishop, Paul Kiely, Curtis Russell (2), Mark Johnson, Matt Williams (2) and Paul Price. Six conversions from Curtis Russell gave him a personal points tally of 22.