Sidmouth Under-13s went down 25-10 to an Exmouth side that relied heavily on one very powerful player.

One big positive for the young Chiefs to take from this game was that they are turning into a battle-hardened outfit across the pitch.

They made the worst possible start conceding twice within the opening minutes. However, they then showed great character as they began to dominate the contest with a mixture of slick handling moves and strong rucking and, by half-time, had scored twice themselves to go into the interval all square.

With some pedantic officiating, the respective coaching staff were despatched to their technical areas and that kick-started banter with both benches seeing the funny side of most exchanges - just how grass roots rugby should be.

Sidmouth eased their grip in the second half and allowed Exmouth’s goliath to gallop through three more times to consign them to a five try to two defeat.

That was harsh on this Sidmouth team that continues to work had and such industry will surely see current narrow reversals turned into victories sooner rather than later.