IVYBRIDGE’S anticipated relegation from South West One was confirmed by a 33-16 defeat at Lydney.

The Bridge, who have only won twice in eight outings since Christmas, slipped into the bottom two in round six and have been no higher ever since.

Relegation has looked inevitable for a while and losing to the Severnsiders mathematically confirmed what the Ivybridge management has been planning for a while.

Ivybridge parted company with coach Davy McGregor last month, as well as accepting the resignation of rugby manager Neil Thomson, and have started the recruitment process for a new head coach.

“We have been receiving applications and hope to make an appointment in May,” said Spencer Owen, the director of rugby at Ivybridge.

Lydney hit the ground running against Ivybridge with two early tries to take a 14-0 lead.

Matt Grieveson slotted two penalties to trim the deficit to 14-6 at the break.

That was as good as it got for Ivybridge as Lydney added five more tries after the break.

Ivybridge scored consolation tries through Giles Clarke and Charlie Teague, neither of which were converted.

Steve Atkinson, who has been caretaking the coaching role since McGregor’s departure, said the final score was harsh on his young team.

“I don’t think the scoreline reflected the game,” said Atkinson.

“For the first 10 minutes, they (Lydney) were pretty good but we hadn’t really shaken the bus journey off.

“We got a couple of tries in the second half and in that middle half of the game, I thought we were going to do it.”

It is not all gloom and doom at Cross-in-Hand as the Vandals 2nd XV defeated Old Technicians 72-13 to take a step closer to promotion from Devon Two South & West.

The Vandals only need two points against Plympton-Victoria in their final game of the season to pip Brixham Crusaders for the single promotion place.

Photography courtesy of Roger Pike.