Sidmouth Under-15s went down 27-19 in a re-arranged Plate quarter-final tie at Stonehouse, writes Chris Woodruf.

Keen to make amends for the narrow defeat they suffered to the Plymouth side in their previous meeting, Sidmouth made a terrific high-tempo start. They played into a brisk wind and were up against a much larger opposition team.

After a ragged opening series of play from both sides, determined forward play saw Stokes provide the ammunition for Pearson to fire down the wing to open the scoring. In strong winds, Harris was impressive as he converted this and the second try from Meads who touched down after excellent carrying play from Cockayne.

A couple of lapses in concentration let Stonehouse back in a game Sidmouth had comfortably in their control and the half closed with Sidmouth holding a 14-10 lead.

The second half saw Stonehouse capitalise on some loose play to secure a further try to edge into the lead, but the elusive Bagwell secured a deserved try as he wove a merry dance through to touchdown and edge Sidmouth back into the lead at 19-15.

A crunching tackle, appropriately penalised, saw Harris removed from play with a broken collarbone. Mead took the penalty kick and narrowly missed. One sensed this was a key point in the game and Sidmouth’s lack of match play and concentration, created gaps and errors which were duly exploited by the fleet footed Stonehouse winger, who secured two quick tries with one conversion and the hosts suddenly had a seemingly unassailable 27-19 lead.

An impressive final play of the game saw a complete team effort release Mead to sweep through the backs and over the line only to loose control of the ball as he went to ground.

This was a truly entertaining game with real commitment from all and one which the boys know was well within their grasp.