LYDNEY RFC faced another tough game with the visit of the 'Fishermen' from Brixham, reports Roger Pike. With Brixham sitting just two points ahead in fourth place, the afternoon was always going to be challenging for the home side, and so it proved.

Lydney had several squad adjustments due to ongoing injuries to McGurk, Mullis, and Frowen, with Jake Hanley and Mike Massey also unavailable. This led to debuts for Tyler Harvey and George Stephens, drafted in from Hartpury, and the return of a fully fit Henry Sleeman on the wing.

Despite the changes, the hosts were dealt an early blow, conceding 15 points in the first 10 minutes of what became a scrappy game, which prevented them from finding any real rhythm.

The visitors took the lead straight from kickoff, with Lydney conceding a penalty that Mitch Pinkus slotted for 0–3. Things worsened as Tom Broady was shown a yellow card for a dangerous tackle, leaving Lydney down to 14 men.

Brixham quickly capitalised, with Matt Crooscombe intercepting to score under the posts for 0–10. Jamie Hext soon added another try, making it 0–15, and a halfway penalty extended the lead to 0–18 by halftime.

The second half saw Lydney rally with early pressure and a break from Sleeman that led to Brixham receiving a yellow card for a high tackle on Hext. Lydney managed to capitalise with Pat Hanslow scoring out wide to close the gap to 5–18.

However, two additional scoring opportunities went unconverted, which proved costly as Brixham tightened their defence and responded with a try by substitute Rory Medley, sealing the game at 5–25. Despite promising performances from replacements James Bonia and Jack Knox, Lydney couldn’t break through Brixham’s solid defence and repeatedly lost possession due to breakdown errors.

Director of Rugby Sam Arnott commented: “A disappointing afternoon. There are four good teams in this league, and unfortunately, resultshaven’t gone our way against three of them. Against a top team, you cannot gift them 15 points at the start—they were clinical at every opportunity. Our set piece was poor. The second half was better, but we had three good opportunities to score and only executed one, which we need to improve. Next week is massive; with three defeats in a row, we need a win. We’ll train hard this week to put things right.”