Rugby Lions completed a comfortable if not inspiring win against their visitors from Gloucestershire. Lions kicked off towards the New Street end with a fairly strong breeze in their favour, and put the visitors under early pressure. They were rewarded after nine minutes when a typical blindside break by Stuart Riding led to the flanker going over in the left corner. James Hawken converted superbly from the touchline for a 7-0 lead.

Alex Nash took on a lovely break by Toby Handley, but the intended pass to Tom Harris never found the target. This was a facet of play to be repeated numerous times throughout the match by the home side, and this lack of composure in try scoring situations would result in a failure to bag the four try bonus point. A long clearance kick by Matt Goode put Tony Wicks, the Lydney fullback, under pressure on his own try line, but a couple of clever chips relieved the pressure to half way.

With the visitors under pressure, their penalty count was adding up, and James Hawken slotted three long range attempts, with another from inside his own half dropping just under the bar, to give Lions a comfortable looking lead.

With the breeze now in their faces, Rugby continued to look the better side, although they lacked the composure to finish off their chances. Lydney failed to show any penetration, and resorted to a long-range drop goal attempt, which drifted wide of the uprights.

A chip and gather by Harry Owens got the Lions to within five metres of the try-line, but Lydney killed the ball to give Hawken a simple penalty kick to extend the lead to 19-0 as play entered the last quarter.

Good interplay between Handley and James Hadfield gave the space for Harry Owens to break through, but his pass to the left only found touch. A wild pass from Lydney’s replacement scrum half also failed to find its target and crossed the dead ball line. From the resulting five metre scrum, Shaun Brady picked up and fed Toby Handley who ghosted through to cross the try-line for Rugby’s second try. Hawken’s conversion attempt drifted just wide of the left upright.

With ten minutes remaining, the game suddenly changed as Rugby took their foot off the gas. To their credit, Lydney responded strongly to dominate the remainder of match and put the home side under severe pressure.

This pressure eventually told, and following numerous phases, replacement Mike Baker twisted to dive over near the posts for a converted try with five minutes remaining.

As the light faded and the cold increased, Lydney continued to attack, but Rugby resisted their efforts to secure a deserved if uninspiring win.