Sidmouth 7 - 14 Exmouth

Exmouth came to Sidmouth’s Sidford pitch having lost for the past 3 years both home and away but have had some strong results of late.

They immediately set out their stall by dominating the first 15 minutes with some strong and aggressive forward play however they were never able to cross the line thanks to some good defending by the home side and some poor discipline by Exmouth.

Ironically Exmouth’s tackling was less robust that Sidmouth’s and they were punished late in the first half when they conceded a try right under the post, and the subsequent conversion did not reflect the possession and territory the Exmouth enjoyed. Exmouth were quick on the attack after the restart but still failed to capitalise despite some terrific forward domination in loose play and line outs – at this point the scrums were evenly matched but Exmouth’s dominance prevailed in the second half when they had two wins against the head in the scrums in a row.

In the second half Exmouth did not panic and continued to build on the efforts of their forwards and made a number of spirited runs but the backs never really made the most of their possession.

Eventually the forward play was rewarded when from their own half the forwards made the ball available in a ruck which found Seb Opie, flanker, in the unusual position of scrum half and the ball was soon up close to the Sidmouth line when during their defence the home side spilt the ball over their own try line for Dom Roberts, hooker, pounce on it as if he had dropped his sandwich. The conversion was not going to be easy but Tom Steer slotted it over from a difficult angle to level the score.

They soon scored again when Paul Bright kicked from deep in his own territory and having chased the ball linked up with Lewis Turner who used his speed and strength to power over for the visitor’s second try. This time a more difficult angle with a blustery wind and on the wrong side for a right footed kicker Tom made it look easy with an inch perfect conversion.

Exmouth were now in the ascendancy with Ed Wright, scrum half, making it difficult for the Sidmouth team to settle. The Forwards all played a huge part – the flankers, Seb and Jono Kamester, limited the opposition’s options and the second rows, Will French and Will House, were very good going forward and once settled dominated the lineouts with good clean ball. Both props, Ben and Conor played good solid rugby with the former making his presence count when he was there at the loose ball. Dom was his usual professional self at lineout and scrum and the No 8, Jack Stuart, had another high tempo game and was always in the thick of it bringing his understanding and presence to bear against the opposition.

The backs played well although there were times when they failed to make the most of the situation but that was as much due to a couple of late nights as also to the quickness that Sidmouth were up at them. Tom had another good game with amazing accuracy and pace. Alfie Valentine showed again his pace and also his ability to pick a ball out of the air from difficult positions and linked uo with Tom Taylor and Simon Wade to make a lot of ground on a number of occasions.

There were still some areas to work on as some of the passes failed to find their mark and Exmouth appeared hesitant on occasions when the backs had the ball but it was still a far superior performance than Sidmouth on the day and they were delighted to put the spectre of losing to Sidmouth to bed! Finally a big thanks you for the patience of the substitutes who turned up but did not get a chance to play – it is very frustrating but they supported and encouraged their team mates in what was a fantastic game.