Sidmouth Under-13 girls returned from a visit to Newton Abbot for their first non-festival game of the season with a 9-7 victory.

The girls had been training hard and getting to grips with the new rules for their age group as had the coaches who hadn’t drop kicked a ball for 15 years!

The hosts were a few short and so a 9-a-side match with reduced scrums was played.

The first of the four quarter saw Sidmouth under pressure with Araminta May having to kick for position to get the visitors out of their own half while some determined running from Newton Abbot’s large centre put Ellie Wood on the touchline for the remainder of the game.

The second quarter and things changed dramatically with Lily Baker being cheered on by the crowd as she twice powered over the try line.

The third quarter saw Sidmouth extend their lead to 7-4 with Cleo Turley, Jessica Perry, Annabelle Emmott and Abbey French all serving up great individual runs.

The home side hit back with a try early in the final quarter and the closing stages saw the Sidmouth girls display show true grit with outstanding tackling from Ellie Monro Higgs, Zoe Allen and Esme Bagwell, sometimes knocking back opponents two or three time in a row!

However, despite great rucking by Lucy Tanner, who often found herself holding off two opponents, the hosts did get a score back and it was soon back to 7-6 before Daisy Grove and Immy Bagwell passed the ball quickly out wide allowing Annabelle Bird to touchdown in the corner after passing two opponents.

Another home score made it interesting, but an Amy Scott try rounded things off nicely for the visitors.

Sidmouth coach Dave Munro Higgs said: “It was a great team performance with all the girls learning still, but also putting a lot of emotion into playing their best.”