Eager boys - 14 of them turn up for under-8s rugby

Sidmouth v Newton Abbot under-8s rugby: With the end of the season nearing, Sid showed no signs of fatigue as they fielded two teams, as 14 boys showed up eager to play.

The first squad were Cade Hayman, Tom Hubble, Toby de Gruchy, Matthew Jones, Charlie Ross, Joe Lowe and Ollie Jarrett. Newton Abbot were quick to start and some rare missed tags from Sidmouth gave them their first score.

Straight from the restart, Sid were finding the gaps and a run through the middle gave Sid and Joe Lowe their first score. Newton came right back with another try before the home side started making the game their own, with great tagging and, working as a unit, forced Newton into making lots of errors.

The second try came from Cade who received the ball on the half way line and broke through. The next came from Joe, who worked his way across the field with team support. Charlie Ross worked hard to try and get over but made a great pass to Tom Hubble who touched the ball down. Going into the second half with a 4-2 lead, Sid never let up. Cade went over for another score before Newton went on the attack again.

A try saving tag from Joe Lowe and a dropped ball gave Ollie Jarrett another chance to stretch his legs and he ran to the try line. Newton got his tag but D Cade was there to finish off the score. Toby de Gruchy was the next to break through and flicked the ball out to Ollie on the wing who sped up the line for a try. The last came for Matthew Jones who got his first try of the season and the win 8-3.

The other squad were Gabriel Stamp, Jasper Fitzhenry, Tobi Pugsley, Christian Welsford, Joe Buckland, Charlie Williams and George Harris. As in the first game, Newton started quickly and Sid missed a few tags to let them in for their first score. But, on the restart, a well worked move saw George Harris run in his first score.

As soon as they started working together, Sid began to win more ball and a loose ball was picked up by Gabe who stormed through the middle and was found just short of the line, but Charlie Williams was there to finish. George was the next to score as once again Gabe was unlucky not to be able to finish the move he started but, with good support from his team, the score was achieved.

Once again, too many missed tags were keeping Newton in the game and all was level at half time. In the second half Gabe finally got a well deserved chance to score. Once again Newton drew level before Charlie pulled Sid ahead.

Christian, Jasper and Tobi were kept busy defending Sid's lead and Joe Buckland kept trying to break through but with no luck.

A massive try-saving tag from Jasper Fitzhenry caused Newton to drop the ball on their own try line and Charlie picked up to run the length of the pitch to score his hat-trick.

Newton got the last score of the match but Sid were eventual winners 6-5.

By Sam Channing

Sidmouth v Newton Abbot under-8s rugby