Sidmouth Under-13 girls travelled to Weston-super-Mare for a festival where they played three matches.

There was plenty of trepidation on the journey up the M5 as many of the team were going to experience festival rugby for the first time!

However, with the presence of joint captains Ellie Monro Higgs and Ellie Wood together with seasoned players Daisy Grove and Lottie Reid, there was plenty of optimism too!

The first game saw the Sidmouth girls trailing 2-0 at the interval, but in the second half, they found a new gear and the recycling of the ball was so much better, together with some penetrating drives up the centre of the pitch. As the pressure increased, one powerful drive ended with Jess Perry being picked up by Ellie Wood and carried over the line to score!

Just two minutes later Perry powered over on her own to seal the side a splendid 2-2 draw.

Next up, the girls took on Drybrook, a Gloucestershire team, and they began with far more tempo to their game with Daisy Grove once again in the thick of the action, ripping the ball from much bigger opponents and scoring two tries – one of which saw her run the length of the pitch!

Gracie Hurson and Lucy Moore both had pitch-length runs as well with the former held up just shy of the line, but the latter going over for the third try as Sidmouth sealed a superb 3-1 success.

Sadly, injury to Lottie Reid meant she had to sit out the third and final game.

In their final game, against Crediton, there were some excellent runs into contact made by Abi Hext and Bella Giles. Abbie Alner also started running and stepping well, although a high tackle slowed her down!

With Lottie Reid unable to participate, other players stepped up to tackle with Amy Scott and Ellie Monro Higgs slowing, forcing Sidmouth up the pitch.

Following a turnover, Crediton’s fleet-footed winger ran the length of the pitch to score and she repeated that soon after.

However, Sidmouth continued to give as good as they got and it was no more than they deserved when Anabelle Bird powered through three tackles to score.

Despite being beaten 2-1, this was the best performance of the day from the team and they can take many positives from the experience going forward.