Sidmouth Under-11s were part of the rugby club’s ‘Heros and Villains’ themed junior tour to Cornwall.

After an early (!) night, the Heroes team went through their warm-up in preparation for taking on host club Redruth.

Sidmouth began the game sluggishly and conceded an early try, scored by the very dynamic Redruth number nine.

On receiving the re-start, and after winning a few rucks, Toby Sanford launched a wishful kick, which was swiftly condemned by the coach – but it was one that Charley Turley ran on to, and scored – a lesson there for everyone which continued throughout the rest of the game.

Charlie Rowland scored a momentous first try using sheer strength to get over the line. Oscar Bruce followed, scoring in similar fashion only to have his try disallowed due to an infringement at the previous ruck – the TMO was unable to provide evidence to the contrary, but the crowd thought it was a genuine try! Having conceded another try, Gyll Gray wanted to remedy the situation and got in on the action with a run from the halfway line to score a very determined try.

Charlie Simic, Jack Pugh and Toby Morris made great contributions by getting first to the rucks and clearing them to provide good ball to those in support.

Tom Bird, having found his boots and gum shield, joined the game on the wing to great effect with strong tackling and with menacing runs up the wing.

The Man of the Match award went to Harry Finch, who showed the determination of a former Redruth player, Phil Vickery, with his own set of tries – running up the wing before, with opposition players hanging off him, offloading the ball well and also for ensuring that at no point did a Cornish player get past him. Well done, Harry Finch!

The Villains team fought a close game with the Redruth Under-11s first team, taking an early lead with a Harry Pasuit try. What followed was end-to-end action with some superb Sidmouth tackling on show, particularly from Harry Adams, but it was Redruth who held a narrow advantage at half-time.

In the second half, Dillon Burrow and Scott Monro Higgs decided that they would take on the flanker role and cause havoc in the Redruth lines! With Redruth on the back foot from this onslaught, Matthew Thomas decided to use Archie Rowcliffe to speed up Redruth’s retreat with short ball after short ball. Switching to longer legs suddenly gave Sidmouth extra ground as Harry Wood, Will Allen, Reece Hext and Josh Priestly ran the ball up the pitch.

With five minutes remaining, the score was 3-3 when Tom Grove launched an attack that saw Will Morris carry the ball to within five metres of the home line and, when the ball was moved to Dillon Burrow, he powered over to seal Sidmouth a thrilling, narrow victory.