Sidmouth RFC Colts 38, Topsham RFC Colts 23

In any sport, derby games are never predictable or easy. Sidmouth Colts can be very proud of a great win over bitter rivals Topsham, writes Jack Colwill.

The game started evenly, with the sides trading penalties in the opening minutes. Sid got the crucial breakthrough when Jevon Astley-Jones hit a beautiful line to slice through and score, converting the try himself. A second try soon followed as Jeremy Massy-Birch went over out wide, and Sidmouth were on a roll. Jack Hodge was leading by example in the forwards along with Mike Bond, with Olly Blyth impressing in the backs. However, Topsham came back into the game with two penalties to go with a try out wide to edge into the lead, 16-15, at half-time.

When the second half restarted, Topsham were out of the blocks quicker and scored a second try out wide.

This was as good as it got for them, as Sidmouth came roaring back with tries from Massy-Birch, Astley-Jones and the impressive Luke Wells-Burr, with Astley-Jones adding a conversion and two penalties to put some gloss on an impressive result for the side. Credit should go to Dan Rugg in the forwards, who was again very impressive in the tight and loose.

Sidmouth Colts can look with optimism towards the remaining games of the league, knowing a top-half finish is well within their grasp. On the day, they did well to win well on what was, as someone pointed out after the game, a great day for players with double-barrelled surnames! But, in all seriousness, this result was well-earned and gives Sidmouth cause for hope for the rest of the season.