IVYBRIDGE reached the halfway stage of what is in danger of becoming a relegation season with a 65-5 home defeat at the hands of Lydney.

Part two of the South West One campaign starts this Saturday with a trip to Sidmouth. The Bridge, one off the bottom of the table, have to get past Sidmouth (10th) to reach safety and are already 10 points behind them.

Anything other than a win on the Blackmore ground this Saturday is going to increase the pressure on the Bridge, although they are hardly in uncharted waters.

Ivybridge have waged two successive battles against the drop and played their way to safety in the second half of the season. The challenge for the coaching staff and the dressing room is, can they do it again?

They were always second best against the Severnsiders, who hit them with 11 tries.

Lydney were 29-0 up at half time and had moved to 55-0 up before Ivybridge got on the board with eight minutes remaining through Will Peakman. Lydney still had two more tries in the locker after that.

Ivybridge have by far the worst defensive record in the division – 561 points leaked and a minus differential of 360 – which is a deficiency that needs addressing… fast.

“There are certain things we just kill ourselves on defensively,” admitted head coach Davy McGregor after Saturday’s loss. “It’s not a fault of effort, but just trying to do too much individually.

“In games like this you sometimes need to simplify things, and I just don’t feel we have the maturity to understand how some games can ebb and flow.

“You look across the group and we don’t have anywhere near the experience that is needed in this league. It’s very hard to be critical with certain guys.”

Elsewhere in the South Hams, Salcombe RFC braved the conditions and overcame Torquay RFC 2nd XV (full report on the back page).

Kingsbridge RFC teams weren’t quite as fortunate, the men’s 1st XV scheduled to cross paths with Bideford in the Counties 1 Tribute Western West South West Division and their colts’ clash with Tavistock was also curtailed.

It wasn’t all doom and gloom for the Kings though as their women’s 1st XV made the short trip to Totnes and returned home with a win under their belt.

There was no action for the Dartmouth RFC 1st XV so their latest result remains a dramatic 28-28 draw with Exmouth II on November 30, having beaten Tamar Saracens by a single point two weeks prior to that.

Looking ahead for Dartmouth now and if the weather allows it, they will host Topsham II on the 14th, with the pair tied together in the league table on 20 points apiece. Dartmouth’s record of 3-1-6 is marginally better than the 3-0-7 of Topsham but the latter have two extra try bonus points to their names to make up the difference.

Finally to Totnes RFC, who will hope to follow up their 29-14 away win at Plymstock Oaks on November 30 with a victory this weekend when they host local rivals Kingsbridge II. Totnes are eighth on six points with Kings in tenth on -7, showing just how big a victory would be here for both sides.