Sidmouth Away Match Report

Report and Pictures by Roger Pike

Due to injuries and unavailability the Severnsiders fielded another changed side for their trip to the Blackmore field with debuts for centre Tom Cubitt, Hayden Jennings in the 2nd row and Luke Hudson on the bench. Sidmouth desperate for a win fielded a strong side which included former Exeter Chief Phil Dollman at full back. A large crowd including hundreds who travelled down from Lydney were entertained to a very exciting and tense game which incredibly ended scoreless. Having shipped nearly thirty points the previous week clearly coaches Chris Green and Dave Emery had worked hard in training during the week to sort the issues and the Severnsiders gave a faultless performance of defence and tackling.

Sidmouth looked the stronger in the opening quarter but numerous errors and also some sound defence from the Severnsiders, the hosts were limited to only a couple of scoring opportunities. The Severnsiders were struggling to get any real possession and the hosts played in the Lydney half for most of the first half. A good move on 30 minutes across the Sidmouth backline saw them drop the ball which was collected by winger Mike Cross who outpaced the covering defence to score against the run of play. However the home touch judge raised a flag for a foot in touch which looked a very debateable call. Sidmouth were soon reduced to try a couple of goal kicks from penalties however both were missed. The half ended with another good Sidmouth break but the excellent Alex Nelmes at full back made another try saving tackle to end the half with no score.

Playing down the slope in the second half Sidmouth continued with most of the possession but with Flankers Harry Brown and Jack Knox tackling everything, the Sidmouth players were going down like falling trees and made little progress. In the back line Henry Sleeman was managing the defence well and putting in some strong tackles to thwart any attacks. With the home side running out of ideas Lydney started to get some ball and big John Barker was making some rampaging runs through the Sidmouth defence and the Severnsiders finally had some scoring opportunities. From a good Hayden Jennings drive the ball was passed out to Mike Cross to go in under the posts but the Official brought play back for a forward pass. With 15 minutes left Lydney had a penalty mid field which they opted to kick, unfortunately the Joe Hamlin kick went agonisingly just wide and the supporter’s nerves from both sides were to be tested until the end. Sidmouth continued to press the Severnsiders line and eventually crossed but ball was held up. On the next attack Harry Brown was carded for offside, however even with 14 men the Lydney defence marshalled by the experience of Sam Arnott remained solid and Sidmouth never really looked like they could find a way to breech the line and the Severnsiders managed out the remaining time to end the game 0 – 0.

Director of Rugby Chris Green commented ‘our changed team was heroic in defence today, they all played with a superb attitude I could not ask for more. We had a number of players missing today but this just shows the strength of the squad and selection for next week will be far from easy. It’s a great start and we are still unbeaten, we will prepare for St Austell at Regentsholme next week knowing it will be another tough test.’