Sidmouth Under-9s were once again blessed with good numbers for the visit of Exeter Saracens and so the morning’s action saw three home teams and two from the Exeter club in action, writes Dave Munro Higgs

First up for Sidmouth were Team Lion-heart who took to the pitch to find the opposition in front of them seemingly struck from a larger mould! They certainly presented a daunting prospect and all watching were in no doubt that strong tackling was going to be key to any Sidmouth success.

Saracens showed their hand in the first play - give the ball to the big guy, there were a few, and he’ll run hard for the try line! It proved brutally effective. Team Lion-heart pulled themselves to their feet with a slight look of bewilderment. If it hadn’t before, their task had now been laid out. A blow of the whistle and Sidmouth now ran with the ball. A couple of passes and Charley Turley touched down for a try. It was the Sarries’ turn to look concerned; they had barely laid a hand on Sidmouth who had shown their weapons to be speed, agility and deft handling. Sarries turn again. This time though Sidmouth’s chests were puffed and the tackles were committed with Alec Bagwell as ever setting the standard. A turn-over ball and Alexander Goody ran in a stunning try. And so the tempo was set for the morning. Jack Pugh and Reece Hext ran straight and fast while Roman Moore made a couple of astonishing tackles. Leon Rowley supported well and caught a superb interception and Ted Jenkins made his presence felt. The first game was won handsomely and the second was even better. Alexander Goody and Reece Hext both made superb try saving tackles to restrict them to only one try versus our seven. The Lion-hearts tackling and support running had flourished in the spring-like sun. Both matches were won, but more importantly their team work had blossomed with smiles all round.

The Sidmouth Purple Panthers played two games drawing the first and winning the second. Captain for the first game was William Morris with Gyll Gray, Oscar Bruce, Daisy Grove, Ellie Monro-Higgs, Immie Bagwell, Laisey Jackson, Charlie Simic and Toby Sanford. Laisey captained the second game which concluded some good line speed and support play from both games. Scorers in both games included Ellie Monro Higgs, Charlie Simic and Toby Sanford. In all there were two good games of rugby played in the right spirit and showing how the Sidmouth play has improved over the season to date.

Sidford Team BH showed some really good rugby against Exeter Saracens. They won all of their games with a combination of good passing and strong running onto the pop ball. Scott Monro Higgs, Thomas Grove and Matthew Thomas all scored a number of tries, but this wouldn’t have been possible without the good strong running from Joshua Priestley, Ben Brook, Sam Hartland and Toby Morris who drew in the defence. Toby Mortimer and Tom Bird both put in some definitive tries and had the biggest smiles on their faces. In all this really was a great team performance all round.

Last, but not least, a big thanks to the Exeter Saracens players, coaches and parents for making it a great morning of rugby.