SOUTHEND skipper Mark Williams was a proud man after seeing his side thrash Lydney 62-29 at Warners Bridge.

The powerful prop forward was delighted by the Seasiders’ return to winning ways.

And he was also thrilled to see four of his Seevic College pupils in action alongside him.

“It was a really good day all round,” said Williams, who lectures in sport science and is the head of rugby at the Thundersley-based sixth form.

“Harry Branch came in at scrum half for his debut and did very well indeed.

“He wasn’t fazed at all despite playing in a key position and Harry Hudson played again at number eight.

“There was also Jack Jones, who has stayed on at the college to do a degree, and Jamie Douglas, who came on in the second half, so it was excellent to see.”

But Williams does not feel strange lining up next to the youngsters he teaches during the week.

“I’ve not really thought of it that way,” said Williams.

“All of them have done well and it was great to win at the weekend.

“We didn’t know what to expect from Lydney but were able to get the ball in hand and get a good win.”

Despite the eventual score-line, it was Lydney who took an early lead with a Craig Jones penalty.

However, Southend were soon in the driving seat thanks to a fine try from Andrew Frost which he also converted.

Two minutes later a misplaced Lydney pass was picked up by Southend winger Billy Driver who raced away for the second try of the game.

Lydney were then hit by a yellow card shown to prop Steven Price and the Seasiders immediately took advantage with Branch passing to Martin Freeman who charged through to score.

Frost again converted to make it 19-3 before the visitors’ lock James Bashford was also sent to sin bin.

That left Lydney with 13 men and Southend bagged three tries in eight minutes.

First to score was Freeman before Michael Guess and Nick Grier also touched down.

Lydney replied with a try from winger Josh Hannam, which Jones converted, and that made it 31-10 when their two players returned.

Southend replied with winger Danny Cleare scoring a try but, just before the break, Hannan went through for the visitors before Jones converted to make it 36-17 at the break.

Lydney scored next with Nicholas Selway touching down.

But the home-side raced away with Guess barging through to score and Frost converting to make it 43-22.

Mark Billings then bagged a brace of tries before Freeman also scored. However, Lydney kept at it and made sure of a bonus point with a late try from Hannam which was converted by Bryan.