Sidmouth Chiefs suffered a heavy 44-3 defeat at Kingsbridge as they failed to repeat the form they showed at St Austell the previous week, writes Terry O’Brien.

The big and well-organised Kingsbridge pack dominated proceedings, keeping the Chiefs on the back foot for much of the game and providing extra time and space for their backs to exploit.

The Kingsbridge fly half opened the scoring in the opening minutes with a routine penalty, and the pattern for the afternoon was set as the Chiefs were shunted back in the first scrum and Kingsbridge scored their first try with a lineout catch-and-drive from 20 metres out.

Two more tries were added before the end of the first quarter as the home side ruthlessly exploited Sidmouth errors. A dropped ball in the Kingsbridge half gave the opportunity for a counterattack, which was finished off by the outside centre. Minutes later, a charged down kick was gathered up by the fly half, who sprinted in from 40 metres. None of the tries was converted.

The fly half added a second try as he exploited a gap near the line after the ball had been taken through several phases.

The Chiefs showed good spirit as they stemmed the flow of points for 25 minutes either side of half-time.

Their best attacking opportunities came when Rhys Thomas and Cameron Grainger linked down the blindside of scrums. Thomas had a particularly good game controlling the ball well at the base of a retreating scrum.

Luke Wells-Burr posed a threat running back kicks and linked well with Tom Elliott on the wing but they could not outflank the cover defence.

Kingsbridge eventually increased their lead, when the right winger finished good phase play and the fly half added the conversion.

On a rare occasion when the Sidmouth pack had their opponents on the retreat, a Kingsbridge forward was yellow carded for preventing quick possession illegally. Dan Retter kicked what proved to be a consolation three points.

The numbers were equalised a few minutes later, when Rory O’Brien was yellow carded for a deliberate knock-on.

Kingsbridge added two late tries as they profited from turnover ball when the Chiefs tried unsuccessfully to run the ball from their own 22.

The number five and the left winger went over from rucks close to the line. The latter was converted.

On Saturday, the Chiefs play their first home league game, when they entertain Paignton, kicking off at 3pm.

In other club games, the Quins travel to Torrington and the Colts entertain Exmouth Colts at Sidford (3pm).