Saturday saw the start of another season of rugby for the Sidmouth 3rds.

Saturday saw the start of another season of rugby for the Sidmouth 3rds and they made a promising start, home to Tiverton at Sidford in the league.

Excellent attacking resulted in Adam Howe touching down for the first try of the season and Brendon Shepherd adding the extra two points after just two minutes of play.

Sidmouth continued the attacks on the Tivvy back line until a sloppy Tiverton line-out landed in the hands of number 8 Frank Helmer, who was able to power through to push the score line up to 12-0.

Unfortunately, Sidmouth were caught napping shortly after and gave away a converted try and two penalties for a 13-12 half time score in favour of the visitors.

After taking on some water, Sidmouth were ready to kick off for the second half. Sidmouth carried on battling with the Tivvy backs and found themselves with a penalty, right in front on the posts.?Instead of kicking the easy three points, the decision was made that they were confident enough to run it and go for a try. It proved to be the right decision and Sidmouth were awarded a try through the hands of Moray Boscence (17-13).

Tiverton reacted well and used their strongest asset, their pack, which was able to drive a scrum over the line for a try putting them back in the lead.

An excellent restart kick landed in the hands of centre Jules Menzies who was able to break a handful of tackles before offloading the ball to Howe to go over for his second try of the afternoon. Tiverton's heads were starting to drop as there just could not breach the Sidmouth defences. There was outstanding tackling from hooker Will Holland and openside Sam Richardson who was the next player to touch the ball down under the posts. The conversion from Moray Boscence making it 29-20 to Sidmouth. The last play of the game saw Adam Squance run the length of the pitch and, to knock the final nail in the Tiverton coffin, Brendan Shepard slotted over the final kick for a 36-20 win.

Thanks to Daniel Stuart, Farrier, for sponsoring the game and a big thanks to the Black Horse pub of Sidmouth for sponsoring the team and supplying the new kit.

The side is always looking for new players, young and old, at any level. Call Hakim Bakrim on 07875 240343.