Combe's just fail to beat both the odds and the mud in the Forest of Dene

Following the morning's torrential rain the pitch at Lyney was waterlogged and muddy for Combe's game at Lydney last Saturday and Combe just failed to get the win that would have been their first at Lydney. From the kick off by Combe, Lydney put pressure on the Combe defence and a penalty miss in the first few minutes of the game then saw Combe attack extend to the Lydney 22 metre line only to lose the ball and see Lydney mount a long range attack. Combe recovered the ball but failed to make touch and Lyney were eventually awarded a line out near Combe's five metre line from which a cross kick was plucked from the air by wing threequarter, Danny Smith for the first try of the match in the 5th minute of the game. The conversion was missed.
A penalty was awarded to Lydney in the 8th minute and from the resulting line out pressure was put on the Combe pack and eventually Dan Cheu crossed the line to touch down for Lydney's second try which again went unconverted. So Combe were 10 nil down after 10 minutes of the game. There followed a period of scrappy play in the mud by both teams until a Lydney attack gained them a five metre scrum from which Dan Cheu broke through a tackle in the centre and scored near to the posts, the extra 2 points were then duly added by Fly Half Craig Jones. Combe were now 17 -0 down after only 19 minutes and things did not look too good for the visiting side. However after 22 minutes Combe were awarded a penalty which Lee Audis duly converted to the delight of his parents who were amongst the very small Combe contingent on the touchline.
Combe then defended superbly for a period of time before setting up an attack themselves from which the Lydney second row committed another technical foul and was shown the yellow card by referee Clare Daniels, one of the very few women referees at this level of our game. Combe immediately took advantage and opted for the line out from which the forward drive saw Tom Hayman score near to the corner. This brought the score to 17 points to 8 at the end of the first half.
The second half almost started like the first with Combe missing touch from a penalty and then Lydney mounting several phases of attacking rugby until a relieving touch kick by Lee Audis. Lydney mounted an attack from the resulting line out but a forward pass gave Combe the scrum from which Lee Audis made a half break and chipped ahead for Combe's full back, Jaco Dutoit, to sprint through ahead of the Lydney chasers to score the visitors second try, which again went unconverted. Lydney 17 Combe 13 in the 8th minute of the second half.
Constant pressure from Combe saw the visitors get within 3 metres of scoring again but the Lydney defence held out. The last period of the second half brought numerous errors as the pitch conditions worsened and the full time whistle duly went without any further score with both teams looking as though they had been at a bad day at a mud massage parlour.