Sidmouth Under-8s did very well on their visit to Exmouth for a series of mini-rugby matches.

With healthy numbers in the age group, Sidmouth were able to travel with 19 players and, with the home side also having good numbers, it meant that both sets of players were able to form three teams to make for plenty of action for all involved.

The Sidmouth youngsters showed no signs of their recent inactivity (caused by the rain!) and gave as good as they got from the first whistle.

What was particularly pleasing for the Sidmouth coaches was the way that their young charges dropped far fewer balls than in recent outings. Some of the defensive play was excellent - often resulting in securing the six tags needed to force a turnover!

There was some terrific running with the ball, most notably by Lucas Vicary, Isaac Wall, Will Cotton, Will Russell and Eli Moss.

A special feature for all watching to both take note of – and enjoy – was that the Sidmouth youngsters have now developed a passing game. With the introduction of a rule requiring the first receiver to pass the ball before a try could be scored, it made for more of the team getting involved in both attacking play and defensive duties.

Jack Bell and Jack Ponting did very well in this development – young Ponting managing to rescue a couple of very dodgy passes from his team mates!

There were also notable contributions from Will Swales and Ben Hooper, but it was Karan Bountra who was awarded the Sidmouth Under-8s Player of the Week honour for his excellent consistent play throughout.