Sidmouth 32, Devonport Services 15

On a day better suited to the America’s Cup sailing in Plymouth, Sidmouth U13s played did well to beat Devonport Services, writes Chris Robinson.

Sidmouth dominated the first exchanges , but got caught out by the wind and the unpredictable bounce of a rugby ball and conceded a try. This just acted as motivation and soon Will Counsell, who was a thorn in Devonport’s side all day, scored his first try. From the restart, George Syrrah caught the ball and ran straight back at them to score. The rest of the half Sidmouth’s pack dominated even though the referee did not make any allowance for our props lack of experience. The backs did well, but the wind meant it was perhaps not the day for spinning it wide. Their tackling was heroic , but unfortunately Devonport did manage another try.

In the second half, with the wind behind, there was no stopping Sidmouth. Counsell soon set up Nick J-G, who was supporting well, to score in the corner. Counsell then scored and ran in under the posts which allowed him to kick the only successful conversion of the entire match! Sidmouth , quite rightly kept it tight, and it was not long before Tom Kennaugh powered over to score a deserved try. Counsell then bagged his third , before Devonport grabbed a late consolation try.

Congratulations to the whole team for playing so well in difficult conditions.