Sidmouth have made their most disastrous start to a season for many years.

South West One (West)

Ivybridge 55, Sidmouth 8

Sidmouth have made their most disastrous start to a season for many years. With several key players still unavailable due to injury the team was further affected by three late withdrawals on Friday night.

Although the replacement players have shown they are good enough to compete at this level, it has not been possible for manager Tug Wilson to produce a settled side. Consequently, they are not yet playing with confidence in themselves or each other.

For the first 20 minutes of the game against Ivybridge, Sidmouth looked the better team.

A powerful run through the centre by Glenn Channing produced enough space on the left wing for Simeon Lewry to beat his opposite number and cut inside the full back for an excellent try.

Unfortunately, three minutes later, missed tackles allowed Ivybridge in for an equalising try which they converted to take a 7-5 lead. Sidmouth quickly regained the lead courtesy of a Channing penalty. Had they exploited two good overlap chances it would have been Sidmouth going into the second half with a comfortable lead, but, on both occasions, the final pass went astray.

Instead it was Ivybridge who scored a second try and on the stroke of half time converted a drop kick for an 18- 8 lead.

In the second half Ivybridge grew in confidence. Sidmouth's scrum began to retreat under pressure and they struggled to win their line-out. On three occasions kicks ahead ran kindly for Ivybridge, producing tries. Further tries produced a final scoreline of 55-8. With 23 games to go there is plenty of time for Sidmouth to recover. In the first instance they must concentrate on finding two sides which they can beat and so steer themselves away from the relegation zone.