A CALL for rugby followers to turn out in force for Saturday's Regentsholme clash between Lydney and Shelford has been made by team manager Colin Henderson.
Riding high after last week's win against Richmond, Paul Price's never-say-die team will want to cement their place in National League rugby for another season with a five pointer.
It will not be easy.
Lydney's 10 point deduction for an administrative error means they are five places and 20 points adrift of their visitors. Not that such margins worry Price's army. They measure up to most teams in the league and being fiercely competitive they will be playing flat out to keep the Regentsholme faithful cheering.
Henderson is an admirer of Price's ability to get the best out of his pack and, like everyone at the ground on Saturday, awarded top marks to the forwards who battled through the mud to come out on top in a tension-packed hour and half of fascinating rugby.
"It's hard to pick one from another. As a unit the pack played very well and they sent everyone home smiling. One more win could well see us safe and it would be useful to achieve that on Saturday. We have home games to follow against Canterbury and Ealing and away games at Barking and Henley, so it would be nice to be in the driving seat and relax a little for the end of season run-in," he said.
A huge downpour an hour before kick-off almost forced a postponement. As anticipated, Richmond proved a real handful but Lydney always seemed at home in the mud and in the highly testing conditions made remarkably few errors.
It was a test for everyone, and full marks to referee Andy Bickle, of Launceston, who was in tune with the tempo of the game and always in control.
For Lydney tries were scored by Ryan Burford and Charlie Vine, plus a penalty try. Mark Davies kicked three conversions.