Sidmouth Quins 22, Topsham 1st XV 14 The Quins fixture with Topsham proved to be a keenly fought affair with some flowing rugby from both sides, writes Bob Baugh.

Early Topsham dominance was absorbed by a solid defence, in which centres Stuart Bickerstaff and Giles Dixon, making a welcome return after several seasons away, closed the door on any visiting attempts to make their probing pay.

The Quins looked very positive in moving the ball wide with the back three of Scott Davies and wings Jamie Balloch and Harry Shayler linking well and always making good ground.

Second row Jack Pyne showed his power and pace after getting the ball from a maul on half way to race away from a surprised Topsham defence to score wide out. The visitors took the lead after a penalty attempt hit the upright unfortunately the rebound was knocked on, resulting in a period of pressure on the Quins line, a couple of penalties later and a Refs warning finally resulted in a penalty try being awarded. As half time approached Jack Pyne got his second try brushing off the opposition to score under the posts, Ben Pratt adding the extras and Quins went into the interval with a 12-7 lead.

A large replacement bench led to a raft of changes for the second half, but the Quins intensity was not lost. Following a ruck mid field, skipper of the day scrum half Steve Trim switched play back to the blind side for wing Adam Squance to score in the corner for an unconverted try.

On swopping wings he then latched onto a long pass from Ben Pratt to score in the other corner. Topsham had their moments and scored a seven-pointer to make for an interesting last 10 minutes.

A good team performance with several players making their first appearances of the season, Mark Osbourne, Tom Huggett, Dan Thomas, Jack Pyne and Tony Martin all making a positive impression, and a team thanks to those who only had short game time or none at all.