U11 success in Sidmouth

Withy travelled to Sidmouth for the second time this season to face a Sidmouth side determined to reverse the scoreline from the previous encounter. This Withycombe side however are a team transformed this season.

The tone for the game was set early with Lewis Tose using kicks to push the Sidmouth defence onto the back foot. Once in their half Sidmouth found it difficult to escape, as the tackling of Pond, Thompson and Mills coupled with the rucking of Long and Jeffery it became increasingly hard for Sidmouth to play their passing game.

The young Withies were having no such troubles. Tose and Long were spraying passes into willing runners with plenty of space, the foremost being Pond who burst through several tackles to score. Sidmouth kept coming back in the first period and at half time had levelled the scores.

The second half would prove to be a real show of how far the Withies have come this season. Moore and Rose were starting to show real improvement at the breakdown whilst in the centre Shaw-Smith is learning rapidly with every game. Withycombe were using the slope to their advantage with the kicking of Tose and the determined direct running of Pond and Long proving a real thorn. With the scores starting to come without a reply from Sidmouth it was a time to try to expand the game and with the speed of Macdonald-Brown and McBryan out wide gaps were starting to be exploited. Bobby Pond was the main beneficiary as Sidmouth simply had no answer to his power and pace.

At the end of a thrilling mornings rugby it was the young Withies who were left to cheer a well earned victory.

Sidmouth 15 Withycombe 40