Sidmouth Under-13s were dominant throughout their Devon Plate cup tie against Honiton who they defeated 54-07 on their own pitch to book a place in the second round.

The die was cast for a powerful all-round show in the early exchanges with scores coming from powerful drives led by number-eight Joe Elsworth and the fleet-footed Josh Golding on the wing.

There followed a lull in the proceedings as the Sidmouth players struggled to adapt to the match official’s interpretation of ruck laws and subsequently they conceded multiple penalties before the home side scored their one and only try of the contest.

Once Sidmouth discovered the required combination – playing a simple form of rugby – the score board begin to move significantly!

Utility man Cole Monaghan’s sublime handling put Golding away again and the forwards once again took charge.

Finlay Johnson, back to his imperious best, stormed forward for multiple carries before crowning his performance with a fine try.

Jack Marchant, later deservedly named the Sidmouth Man of the Match, scrummaged superbly and Max Dix was once again heavily involved throughout with bags of tackling, ball carrying and stealing possession back from the home side.

Sean Harvey, at fly half, scored the try of the match after a glorious combination from numbers eight, nine and ten.

Josh Roberts also chipped in with a try to underline another solid performance from full-back and skipper-for-the-game, Dom Bernhardt, slotted no fewer than seven conversions.

One particular pleasing aspect for the Sidmouth coaches were the collective performance of those that were asked to play ‘out of position’.