The laid back approach of the Sidmouth Under-12s reaped dividends at the Weymouth Festival, writes Craig Morgan.

The opening day of action saw Sidmouth dominate both the Weymouth squads with forceful persistence.

Next up were the powerful Horsham boys who, trained by a Kiwi coach, played an irresistible brand powerful running, support play and off-loads. Their waves of attacks finally proving too much for Sidmouth who succumbed to a 3-0 defeat.

The last two games, however, were finely balanced until Sidmouth cracked the Old Grammarian code educating their opposition in the fineries of a three nil thrashing! Tries came from Jack Wilson, the barnstorming Jack Marchant and the super strong Jack Jenkins.

Finally, the Enfield Luctonians stepped up clearly fancying their chances against the Devonshire dumplings!

In a titanic tussle both sides gave it their all. However, Lady Luck finally deserted Luctonians as Finlay Morgan found a gap and powered over the try line closely accompanied by four flailing defenders.

A night of hard partying ensued by players and parents alike grasping, as they did, the ‘bigger picture’.

With bleary eyes and subdued humour the greens did it all over again on Sunday with similar results. Tries came from Ollie Jones, Peaky , Fin and Jack Wilson plus the revelation of the season Mr Hard Charge himself - Matti Laurenti.

Another try from Josh Roberts together with a massive tackle count put him firmly at the top of the Hard Man and best player award.

Sidmouth met Horsham again in the final and our team of walking wounded battled hard, but finally lost out 2-0.

A thousand thanks to Mark Laurenti for organising the event, Max Dix for leading from the front, Big Hen for magnanimously playing for the opposition and Cole for bringing up the reinforcements.