Sidmouth Under-14s finally got one over on Withycombe, beating their neighbours 38-12 at Sidford.

In previous meetings Withy had always held the upper hand, but this was to be a very different outcome!

Ably skippered on the day by Kyle Parry who used to play for Withycombe, Sidmouth quickly went two tries up through lightening man Josh Golding and Joe ‘The Beast’ Elsworth.

Withy hit back with a dominant forward try and a well-executed cross field kick-catch-and-score to shift the momentum back in their favour. With the tide turned Sidmouth dug deep and to their credit clawed themselves back into the game going into the break 14-12 up. Credit must go to Oli Jones, Sam Bond and Alex Peacock for steadying the ship in difficult conditions.

Seven substitutes were rotated on and the second half started with some element of control. Tony Wilson, Louis Maynard Charlie Corr and Mattie Laurenti continue to develop their understanding of forward play, and the three’s always looked dangerous. However, some stuttering handling often saw their attacks falter. The hard-charging Owen Tidball always made ground and, more importantly, never turned the ball over through a mixture of power, determination and staying on his feet.

Tidball also has another big asset – his pace – and he showed a clean set of heels twice to score two fine tries.

Another new recruit, Sebastian Stewart, scored a fine try to extend the Sidmouth lead.

Archie Rowe, who continues to play with more maturity, chose the blind side option on several occasions to reap havoc in Withycombe’s defence. Furthermore, but for an awesome tap tackle from Withycombe’s best player, number six Jason Farrant, Josh Golding would have been in for another try.

The final word came from the fleet-footed Josh Golding who tore up the blind side, handed off one challenge, swerved inside another, stood the full back up and majestically rounded him to score a superb solo effort under the posts.