Sidmouth Chiefs achieved their first win in Cornwall for four years, and did so in style against Truro, beating them 32-17 to move into fifth place in the league, writes Terry O’Brien.

Despite a long spell in a traffic jam on Bodmin moor, the Chiefs made a good start helped by a missfiring Truro lineout. It was from a loose ball at a lineout that they launched a strong attack with the forwards gaining much ground through a series rucks before Truro conceeded a penalty. Dan Retter’s successful kick opened the scoring.

Truro soon replied when they kicked a penalty to the corner and set up a driving maul from the lineout. They were stopped just short of the line but the scrum half darted over for an unconverted try.

The Chiefs regained the lead midway through the half when they won a lineout just inside the opposing half. The backs handled fluently to put Charlie Cotton in space on the right wing. His strong run was eventually stopped five metres short of the line but the forwards were on hand quickly to recycle the ball and drive Christian Edbrooke over the line. Dan Retter added the conversion.

From the restart kick Truro regained possession to set up camp inside the Sidmouth 22. The Chiefs defended well until they turned over possession at a ruck near the line and Paul Richardson cleared to touch. From a scrum on the Sidmouth 22, a long pass from Richardson to Charlie Cotton set the winger on another run to take play deep into the Truro half, where the home side were penalised and Dan Retter kicked the three points.

On the half hour good driving by the forwards took play close to the Truro line. From a ruck, Paul Richardson’s pass put Charlie Cotton one on one with his opposite number. He stepped inside and over for an unconverted try to make score 18-5, where it remained until half time.

Five minutes after the restart, the Sidmouth forwards used a lineout to set up a driving maul. The ball was released to the backs with the defence back-pedaling. Christian Edbrooke appeared in the centre with a strong burst before setting up a ruck inside the 22. The ball was quickly recycled for Harry Chesterton to jink his way over. Dan Retter added the conversion.

Truro narrowed the margin when the outside centre latched on to a loose ball in boken play and sprinted in from 40 metres. The try was converted by the full back.

Any chances of a come back by the home side were snuffed out with the try of the match. From a scrum inside their own 22, the Sidmouth backs moved the ball wide and Jevon Astley-Jones joined the line from full back to cut through. He found plenty of support to carry the move on with Dan Retter putting the finishing touch under the posts before adding the conversion.

In the closing minutes Truro added respectability to the scoreline when the loose head prop scored on the overlap after concerted pressure inside the Sidmouth 22.