Sidmouth Under 12s learned a harsh lesson at the Bournemouth Rugby Festival, namely that the margin between winning and losing can be wafer thin.

Sidmouth’s whole squad were absolutely fantastic in this tournament, scoring 21 tries in five matches and conceding only four. Those statistics might suggest they won the tournament, but actually they won the Shield.

It was a scorchingly hot day and, fittingly, Sidmouth got off to a blistering start against Eastleigh, scoring six tries in nine minutes. Scorers were Syrah, Down, Wright, Morgan and Dunn (2). The next match was pivotal, but New Milton scored literally in the last second to draw the match. The match against Cowbridge, a Welsh team, saw them forge ahead with a late score.

Tries scored by Morgan, Wright, Dunn (2), Johnson-Graves (2). Outrageous try celebration - awarded to Nic J-G! This meant we were in the shield competition. Sidmouth were too good for Hereford. White, who had been immense all day, scored two, Wright (1) and Bolton scored a flier!

The final was against Ealing and Sidmouth again were superb. Syrah powered over early on. Morgan and Unsworth tackled anything that moved. Fergal was a rock in the scrum. Sargent, who had a brilliant tournament, linked the forwards and the backs wonderfully. Fernley, who scrimmaged incredibly well, set up Dunn to score the second. Coombs did everything asked of him. Hankin was great in attack and defence.

Mills was ever reliable and Moore who played all the matches, was terrific. The last try was fittingly scored by Sidmouth’s captain, Wright, who led from the front and was awesome all day!

Thanks to coaches Andy Down and Stuart Morgan, who got some incredible rugby out of these young men. Sidmouth should be very proud.