Withy Under-15s go down to a strong Sidmouth side

Action from the Withycombe Under-15 meeting with Sidmouth (Image: Archant)

Due to waterlogged pitches, this game was played at Bicton College.

Withy kicked off, but were soon clear as to the extent of their challenge as the ball was gathered and run through them by the big Sidmouth forwards and the try was converted to put Withy on the back foot.

There followed a period of end-to-end action until Withy full back Joe Graham fired a long kick that Sidmouth carried over their own try line resulting in a Withy scrum.

A clean strike at the scrum saw the ball moved slickly out to fly half Will Cooper and he glided in to score under the posts to allow a straightforward conversion to level things up at 7-all.

Action from the Withycombe Under-15 meeting with Sidmouth (Image: Archant)

The half ended with Sidmouth awarded a contentious penalty that they took with a quick tap to get their second try and the long conversion was slotted to send Withy in at the break trailing 14-7.

The conditions became more and more muddy, making basic handling very difficult, but Withy put together a move that was launched by Finn Musgrove and was followed by a good bit of football by Matt Rye, who then gathered the ball before going over, but the conversion was missed.

Withy then pressed hard and won a penalty following a Sidmouth mistake. The penalty was taken swiftly and the ball eventually worked wide to winger Matt Shaw-Smith, who crossed for an unconverted try.

Sidmouth hit back with their big forwards again using their height, weight and power to run the ball in for another try.

From the restart, a Sidmouth player ran half the length of the pitch and weaved his way to under the posts leaving a straightforward conversion that rounded off the scoring.