Sidmouth RFC Under-9s hosted a determined Bridport team at Sidford.

The early exchanges were closely contested with Bridport playing some good rugby and the first few phases ended with honours even.

Slowly, but surely, Sidmouth started to step up the pace and, thanks to some strong tackling and dogged defending from Ollie Marsh and Ned Coles, Bridport found it hard to breach the try line. By the end of the first quarter Sidmouth had managed to get ahead thanks to some excellent team interplay and a couple of fantastic individual tries from Will Pullman and Fin Cotton.

Sidmouth were constantly putting the opposition line under pressure and turned over possession several times. With the ball Sidmouth started to ease clear with Christian Pinnock evading tackle after tackle to jink his way to a try and with excellent contributions from the whole team Sidmouth found themselves 7-4 ahead at half-time.

In the second half Sidmouth’s strength in depth started to tell and gaps started to appear in the Bridport line. Morgan West was able to power his way to the try line and with strong support play several periods of Bridport possession were broken down.

Late on, thanks to a lovely run, Lucy Tanner powered over the line for one of the tries of the game before Player of the Match Will Pullman scored his fourth try.

The game ended 15-9 and credit must be given to the dogged display the small Bridport squad gave, although in the end Sidmouth’s all-round tackling, passing and power, proved too much for them.