Regional 1 South West: Lydney 34-19 Weston-super-Mare
Weston-super-Mare, looking to halt a run of seven league defeats, had a great start to the game at Regentsholme against a Lydney side who had not been beaten at home this season, writes Chris Heath.
After much possession, Weston centre Huw Morgan cut through and was stopped short of the line. But the ball was recycled to fly-half George Nuttycombe, who went through to score the opening try.
Lydney then kicked to the corner from a midfield penalty and scored from a catch and drive, with hooker Dan Cooper crossing the whitewash and scrum half Tom Broady adding the extras.
Weston then held up another home attack over the line. The visitors then infringed, and Lydney opted to kick for a goal, which proved successful for Broady from the 22-metre line. Weston then thwarted another Lydney attack with some fine last-ditch defence.
Weston were giving away soft penalties, and the hosts were applying pressure, but flanker Jay Davis made a barnstormer of a run to relieve the defence.
The visitors then had a chance, but a delayed pass ended the opportunity. Lydney then increased their lead when a chip through was gathered cleanly by replacement Brad Dunn to score. Broady converted to put themselves 17-5 up.
The loss of left-wing Dominic Marshall through illness and a harsh yellow card for skipper Tom Sugg didn't help, but the visitors saw it through to half time without any further score.
Sugg had only returned to the field for a matter of minutes when loosehead prop Sam Coles was yellow-carded again for a somewhat insignificant offence, and this time, Lydney made Weston pay.
The hosts took full advantage of the extra man when No.8 Riley Scriven picked up and crashed over from a scrum close to the line. They extend their lead further following a flowing backs move. It ended with wing Conal Mill beating a couple of defenders with sheer pace and crossing close in for the bonus point try, which centre Joe Hamlin converted.
Weston attacked blind from a scrum, but scrum-half Dan Lomax was well tackled. Weston continued to go forward and earned a penalty, which they elected to scrum powerfully for Davis to go under the sticks after a mini break and Nuttycombe to the conversion with ten minutes still to play.
The visitors then piled on the pressure but, when very near the host line, threw an interception, which the host's wing, Mike Cross, gleefully accepted to race eighty metres to put the home side out of sight.
Weston's dominance of the scrum was bearing fruit, and an Ollie Streeter run followed by some good interplay led to a penalty. Lomax took quickly to dart over to give fly half George Nuttycombe his second conversion of the day.
This proved to be the final score of the afternoon despite some excellent performances, particularly by Davis and young hooker Tom Burge, along with more promise from Nuttycombe.
Weston's season-long problems with consistent finishing when in promising positions and a proliferation of soft penalties once again proved to be their downfall to leave them at the foot of the table.
On Saturday (January 13) Weston will host neighbours Chew Valley who are second in the table, two points behind league leaders Devonport Services, after a 32-27 home victory over Brixham. Kick-off is 2.30 pm
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