Sidmouth Under-15s went down 30-17 when they took on South Molton on the lush turf at the Blackmore.

Sidmouth, buoyed by their excellent all-round show the week before against Topsham, lost the toss and South Molton made a bright start, quickly identifying a gap and switching play at every opportunity. This quick thinking, disoriented the home side and after a number of phases led to the first try of the game.

Sidmouth, who welcomed back Alex Peacock following a lay-off towards the end of last season, managed to settle into the game and began to give as good as they got with Peacock slotting back into the side like he had not missed a match and was singled out for praise by the visiting coaches for his outstanding work at the breakdown.

His efforts helped turnover ball a number of times throughout the match and also started a fantastic move in front of the clubhouse, second row Ollie Jones supporting well, bursts through the South Molton defence and galloped a good 40 yards to score a great try to level the scores.

The teams very evenly matched, continue to trade blows with a further try each before half time. Sidmouth’s second try saw the ball passing through multiple pairs of hands before being superbly finished by winger Diego in the far corner.

At the start of the second half Sidmouth started strongly, winning a penalty near the halfway line, opting to run it and using their centre Alberto to sprint through and score by the posts. The home side were clearly lifted by the score and enjoyed a sustained period of dominance with Jack Jenkins and Tom Bree delivering stand-out performances to help Sidmouth keep the lead.

However, a couple of lapses of concentration ended up being Sidmouth’s downfall in the end. A South Molton 22 drop out was kicked into space leading to a breakaway try and another quick penalty catching the home side off guard to complete the scoring.