Lydney Director of Rugby Sam Arnott was forced into changes for the trip to Devon to face Topsham, writes Roger Pike.

Rowan Mullis returned to start at hooker with Jack Knox slotting into the backrow.

Max Turner came in at scrum half for his debut and a pacy bench consisted of Harvey Heaven, Aaron Esiri and Wilf Doyle-Finch. Pat Hanslow captained the side.

Despite another defensive shift from Lydney the Regional One South West promotion contenders proved far too good and ran out convincing winners. It was the worst performance of the season from Lydney who were lacklustre throughout. Unforced errors throughout the game resulted in barely any scoring chances and the 36-0 result probably did not reflect the hosts dominance.

The hosts dominated the opening encounters, camped in the Lydney half they created numerous chances.

A good steal from Mullis and a couple of good turnovers from Kyle Frowen kept the game scoreless after 15 minutes.

The hosts had Lydney penned in their 22m drove to the line for a converted try.

A silly yellow card for Hodge did not help the visitors’ cause with Topsham scoring in the corner for 12-0.

Lydney did create a good opportunity from their backs passing between Danny Price, Joe Hamlin and Alex Nelmes which found Brad Dunn who was tackled in the 22m area and a penalty was conceded.

Charlie Beddis’s kick went wide. Another Kyle Frowen steal to win a penalty stopped a try.

Knox was industrious in the loose and Heaven came on to add some pace at the breakdown. With virtually no scrum or line-out ball Lydney created another rare opportunity with Hamlin and Dunn but there was another knock-on, the pattern all game and the half ended 19-0.

Topsham dominated from the restart but some real character in defence especially from Price, Heaven, Williams and Frowen kept the hosts out.

Zak Williams and James Bonia both went off injured and James Lane came back on.

With Arron Esiri on the win, Knox moved to hooker and Doyle-Finch joined the back row.

The visitors continued to struggle and were conceding penalties from every scrum.

A scrum penalty saw the hosts spin the ball out to score for 24-0. Frowen won another penalty but the touch kick to the corner missed Lydney were now holding on with last man tackles from Dunn and Frowen who had a good game but always in defence.

After the hosts made it 29-0, they recovered the restart and from a scrum drive the ball was over the line.

From another scrum penalty the ball was again spun out and Topsham made no mistake to end the game 36-0.

The scoreline flattered the visitors, but some real character showed but no points was disappointing especially for the visiting supporters.

Arnott said: “This was the most disappointing performance during my time as Director of Rugby.

“We never got off the bus and were poor in every aspect.

“We knew it would be a tough with their quick play tactics.

“We had worked on a game plan but did not give ourselves a chance today and all the players agree.

“We need to sort things quickly in the week as another tough test follows at Regentsholme where we face Launceston.”