Sidmouth Under-16s were involved in a thrilling 17-all draw when they played a midweek floodlit match at neighbouring Exmouth, writes Daryl Pearce.

The early exchanges were even-steven, but it was the home side who scored first with an overlap before a try in the corner. The Chiefs’ reply was good and, galvanised with some strong scrums and determined tackling, particularly from Johnson-Graves, back in fine form after an injury enforced lay-off.

An excellent run by Bolton left Exmouth defenders as he scored the first Sidmouth try that was converted by captain Pearse. Exmouth replied with a penalty, but Sidmouth gained good ground from the restart, Cornish powering through to score. It was not converted and the teams trooped off at the break at 12-all.

Sidmouth made a bright start to the second half thanks to some impressive work by the scrum. In addition there was some fine hooking from Davies coupled with some power play by the forwards who won a scrum against the head and Sidmouth pushed forward to win a penalty, but lost possession after a forward pass. A period of solid defensive play by both teams meant there was no further scoring until efficient Exmouth defence averted a try and, once possession was regained they scored to take a 17-12 lead.

Back came Sidmouth; scrum-half Davies intercepted an Exmouth kick and made some ground, but there was to be no score. However, after another powerful Sidmouth scrum, Unsworth picked up the ball and eased his way through a number of challenges to level things up much to the delight of visiting supporters.