WESTON are a tough side to beat at home but without a win this season, they fielded a big and experienced forward pack hoping to disrupt the Severnsiders’ game plan.

However, Lydney put in a dominant display moving the ball around using their pacey backline for a deserved win, writes Roger Pike.

A thrilling game entertained a large crowd with the visitors playing their best rugby this season scoring some quality tries.

Weston dominated the opening encounters with the Severnsiders making numerous errors gifting possession.

The hosts scored on seven minutes when Jay Davis crossed, Archie Tilsley added the extras for 7–0. This sparked the Severnsiders into life and from a quickly taken penalty Kieran Griffiths broke through, off-loading to Tom Broady who outpaced the remaining defence to score. Brad Barnes slotted the conversion, and the match was all square.

Lydney, starting to dominate, saw a good break from Ben Large and Henry Sleeman which found Zak Williams on hand to score, Barnes on target for 7-14 after 14 minutes.

The hosts did respond but some poor tackling from Lydney gifted Huw Morgan a try for 12-14.

On 25 minutes, a serious head injury saw Mike Massey replaced by Luke Hudson and from the penalty Lydney kicked to the corner.

Winning the lineout Dan Cooper powered through the defence to score, Barnes again kicking the extras for 12 – 21.

Another great move on the half hour saw a break from Zak Williams off-loaded to Brown who fed the backs with Sleeman finally bringing in full-back Alex Nelmes for a try, Barnes again added the extras for 12 – 28.

Weston did get a penalty on halftime which Tilsley kicked to end the half 15 – 28.

Weston started the second half much the stronger and the visitors had Kyle Frowen getting an unlucky yellow card. Tilsley kicked the resulting penalty for 18 -28. Barnes then responded with a Lydney penalty for 18 -31.

The Lydney scrum was now under real pressure, and it looked a tricky 30 minutes for the visitors to hold their lead.

The Severnsiders managed the game well with some good turnover ball from Kyle Frowen in particular and Brad Barnes field kicking stopped the hosts making any notable progress. 

Lydney were unlucky not to score again when a Nelmes try was ruled out for a forward pass. A penalty just inside halfway  saw a huge kick from Barnes sail over for 18 – 34.  

Another superb touch kick from Barnes who was running things at outside half gave Lydney a line-out on the 5m line. Locke took a good line out from which Harry Brown muscled trough to touch down, Barnes again added the conversion at 18-41. 

The visitors were now dominating in the back line with Nelmes, Sleeman and Brad Dunn creating havoc with the hosts’ defence. 

Weston did get another try through their big forwards which Tilsley converted for 25 – 41. 

With the Severnsiders winning another penalty they kicked for the corner; however, they lost the line-out only for Weston to miss their clearing touch kick which Alex Nelmes caught and simply sliced through the back line for a superb score to extend the lead to 25–46. 

With the hosts trying to run out of their own half, prop Rowan Mullis intercepted a pass and ran in unopposed from the 22m line, Barnes again kicked the extras and Lydney passed 50 for 25–53 to end a quality display.

Director of Rugby Sam Arnott commented: “We knew Weston’s threat and managed it well for the most part – we played some really good rugby today scoring some quality tries. 

“You can see the side starting to gel. We still have plenty to work on as I thought we again gifted a few tries and probably left 20 points out there ourselves. 

“Consistency will now be the key as next week we have a huge derby game hosting Matson at Regentsholme, so we need to be ready for a tough challenge.

Lydney: Rowan Mullis, Daniel Cooper, Gareth Winter, Lewis Locke, Mike Massey, Zak Williams, Harry Brown, Kyle Frowen, Ton Broady, Brad Barnes, Henry Sleeman, Kieran Griffiths, Ben Large (capt), Brad Dunn, Alex Nelmes. Replacements: James Baylis, Joe Hamlin, Luke Hudson.