Sidmouth Under-9s experienced a double dose of action at the weekend.

First up the Pullin Cup was contested and a 30-minute tag rugby encounter ended with the peripheral Sidmouth team winning 8-6 which turned out to be the best result for that day for England.

The following day the team travelled to Bridport for what was the first outing of contact rugby for the youngsters.

Sidmouth were able to field 24 players for matches against teams from Weymouth and Bridport.

The first Sidmouth team played three games, the first of which was against Bridport and had Sidmouth up 6-1 at half-time. The Sidmouth tackles forced the Bridport players onto the back foot for the entire first half, but Bridport came out in the second half a different team finishing the game 12-5 with some good touchline tries.

The second game saw Weymouth beaten 8-6 in a match that saw both sets of players show excellent running and tackling. The difference between the two was clearly Sidmouths’ willingness to pick up loose ball and play the advantage which provided Immy Bagwell with the games best try after a great Tom Bird tackle.

The third game was against Bridport again with Bridport determined to show a stronger defence. The tackling of the Arver twins, Scott Monro Higgs, Laisey Jackson and Toby Mortimer gradually pushed the Bridport players onto the back foot allowing tries from all the other players including Daisy Grove,Ben Brook, Ellie Monro Higgs and Gyll Gray leaving the score 9-5 to Sidmouth.

The other Sidmouth team enjoyed a 10-4 success against Bridport and a 9-6 win over Weymouth. In attack, excellent ball placement in the tackle led to quick ball, allowing the likes of Charlie Turley, Thomas Grove and Jack Pugh to take advantage of the open space and demonstrate their strength and speed to reach the whitewash. There was committed tackling by all players, especially Alec Bagwell who managed to create a couple of valuable turnovers which gave Sidmouth just enough against evenly match opposing teams.

Under-9s coach Dave Munro Higgs said: “Thanks to Weymouth and Bridport for an excellent start to the season that included brilliant rugby and hopefully not the last of the brilliant sunshine.”