A much changed Sidmouth Quins team ended as worthy 21-15 winners when they entertained a large Cullompton squad atthe Blackmore for a keenly fought encounter that saw both sides in contention to bag the victory right up to the final whistle, writes Robert Baugh.
Playing with a strong breeze behind them, the visitors looked to forge some forward dominance early on by keeping play tight and were rewarded with an easy three points following a Sidmouth offside.
The home team absorbed plenty of early pressure before beginning to create phases of their own, with scrum half Steve Trim orchestrating things, keeping the tempo high, mixing play between close forward drives, and moving the ball wide as Sidmouth enjoyed 15-minutes of near total dominance.
First, a series of Cullompton infringements saw play move up field, and a long pass in the centre, allowed Ben Pratt the room to go over with fly-half Jevon Astley-Jones slotting the conversion from wide out.
Next, wing Adam Squance made inroads into the visitors’ half with the ball quickly recycled and shipped across field again to Ben Pratt who stepped inside the cover defence to score another converted try.
With Cullompton still on the back foot, a quick tap penalty on the 22 from George Jarman allowed the forwards to surge towards the try line.
Hooker Louis Headon capped another good display, going over from five-metres out and again Astley-Jones adding the extras and Sidmouth trooped off at the break with a 21-3 lead.
Visiting Scottish referee Ian Hewitt, on his annual Sidmouth pilgrimage, caught a wayward ball in the face!
Fortunately, with glasses straightened, he was fit to carry on after half-time.
With both sides making changes at the break it was Cullompton who started the stronger and quickly grew in confidence after scoring a converted try straight from the kick-off.
Both sides had their chances, but defences held away until 10 minutes from time when the Mid Devon men scored an unconverted try. Cully, sensing victory, proceeded to throw the kitchen sink at the Sidmouth line.
However, the home side, determined to get back to winning ways, kept their line intact to enjoy a hard-earned success.
In what was a real team performance the Man of the Match went to number eight George Jarman.
This weekend the Quins travel to Okehampton for a Merit Table meeting.
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