Sat 8 Mar 2025
Sidmouth travelled to Brixham on Saturday with a target of spoiling the Brixham party and boy did they deliver.
Earlier in the week, Brixham had pulled out of the Devon Senior cup on Thursday evening to concentrate on the league, as they were in contention, along with Barnstaple, for promotion.
Fast forward to 4:20pm on Saturday afternoon, having just lost at home, the first time since Exmouth beat them in 2023, they are now sitting 2nd in the league 3 points behind Barnstaple and without a cup final to look forward to.
Moving onto the game, Sidmouth started with a big point to prove that you shouldn’t underestimate an underdog, they took an early lead through Shaun Malton with a close range pick and go outwide, Rory O’Briens kick just drifted wide.
With Brixham still in the changing rooms and Sidmouth having their best opening 20 minutes scored again after the forwards linked up well and stretched the home sides defence, a long lofted pass from Scott Henderson gave Fin Keywood a walk in try outwide, O'Brien was successful with the conversion giving Sidmouth an opening lead of 0-12.
Sidmouth continued to pile on the pressure and the ref awarded a penalty in front of the posts, Sidmouth made the smart decision to continue with score board pressure and O’Brien knocked over a penalty from 40m out. Brixham finally woke up and with a rare penalty they kicked to the corner, from a well worked trick play the home side winger scored under the posts for a converted try.
Just as the half time break was about to happen, Sidmouth were caught asleep and the outside centre took his chance and scored, again under the posts for a converted try, this gave the home side some hope as they were half way there to scoring the needed 4 tries, the half time score was 14-15 to Sidmouth.
The half time team talk was led by Dolly and Malts and their passion and clarity was evident, as the faces of the rest of the players gave the impression that something special could happen in the second half.
The second half opened up with Brixham continuing to struggle with their discipline and allowed the Rugby 25 International Rory O’Brien to add another 3 points, stretching the lead to 14-18.
Brixham gained some much needed territory and went the their forwards, the home side loosehead came out on top after a series of pick and goes with a try, which again was converted, taking a the score 21-18 and the momentum well and truly shifted to the home side.
In big games you need your big players to step up, but Sidmouth had all 18 raise their game 20% to take back the momentum in the game. Shaun Malton was again the beneficiary of the great work from the Sidmouth pack coming up with the 5 points in the formerly rowdy home supporters corner, which now had an eerie silence, the score was now 21-23.
The importance of score board pressure continued to be a big factor as the discipline of the home side was really starting to impact there chase for the 5 points and gave O’Brien another chance from a penalty which he landed, 21-26.
The home side was now chasing that much needed 4th try, Sidmouth turned over the ball through Harry Emmett, and moved the ball out wide, with Brixham’s defence vulnerable, the talisman Tom Hodge burrowed his way through a ruck to score a try of his own, extending Sidmouth’s lead to 21-31.
With time very much running out, the home side's bulldozing winger finished off a try, the kick outwide was missed leaving the score 26-31 as the ref said there was one minute left, this made for a very tense finish whilst the home side went in search for the victory.
However, the mighty Green Machine had a clear sight of causing the biggest upset this season, they managed to hold on and secure a famous win on the South Devon coast 26-31.
Sidmouth now turn their focus and attention to a trip up the north Devon link road to play Barnstaple in the Devon Cup Final. The last time Sidmouth was in a Devon Senior Cup final was 1978 when they lost to Exeter 28-13. The joys of cup rugby is that it can go either way on the day.
Knowing the strength and depth of Barnstaple, if Sidmouth are going to come back with the trophy they will need to increase there performance by another level, which this group is more than capable of doing, producing special performances.
As reported by Glenn Channing
Earlier in the week, Brixham had pulled out of the Devon Senior cup on Thursday evening to concentrate on the league, as they were in contention, along with Barnstaple, for promotion.
Fast forward to 4:20pm on Saturday afternoon, having just lost at home, the first time since Exmouth beat them in 2023, they are now sitting 2nd in the league 3 points behind Barnstaple and without a cup final to look forward to.
Moving onto the game, Sidmouth started with a big point to prove that you shouldn’t underestimate an underdog, they took an early lead through Shaun Malton with a close range pick and go outwide, Rory O’Briens kick just drifted wide.
With Brixham still in the changing rooms and Sidmouth having their best opening 20 minutes scored again after the forwards linked up well and stretched the home sides defence, a long lofted pass from Scott Henderson gave Fin Keywood a walk in try outwide, O'Brien was successful with the conversion giving Sidmouth an opening lead of 0-12.
Sidmouth continued to pile on the pressure and the ref awarded a penalty in front of the posts, Sidmouth made the smart decision to continue with score board pressure and O’Brien knocked over a penalty from 40m out. Brixham finally woke up and with a rare penalty they kicked to the corner, from a well worked trick play the home side winger scored under the posts for a converted try.
Just as the half time break was about to happen, Sidmouth were caught asleep and the outside centre took his chance and scored, again under the posts for a converted try, this gave the home side some hope as they were half way there to scoring the needed 4 tries, the half time score was 14-15 to Sidmouth.
The half time team talk was led by Dolly and Malts and their passion and clarity was evident, as the faces of the rest of the players gave the impression that something special could happen in the second half.
The second half opened up with Brixham continuing to struggle with their discipline and allowed the Rugby 25 International Rory O’Brien to add another 3 points, stretching the lead to 14-18.
Brixham gained some much needed territory and went the their forwards, the home side loosehead came out on top after a series of pick and goes with a try, which again was converted, taking a the score 21-18 and the momentum well and truly shifted to the home side.
In big games you need your big players to step up, but Sidmouth had all 18 raise their game 20% to take back the momentum in the game. Shaun Malton was again the beneficiary of the great work from the Sidmouth pack coming up with the 5 points in the formerly rowdy home supporters corner, which now had an eerie silence, the score was now 21-23.
The importance of score board pressure continued to be a big factor as the discipline of the home side was really starting to impact there chase for the 5 points and gave O’Brien another chance from a penalty which he landed, 21-26.
The home side was now chasing that much needed 4th try, Sidmouth turned over the ball through Harry Emmett, and moved the ball out wide, with Brixham’s defence vulnerable, the talisman Tom Hodge burrowed his way through a ruck to score a try of his own, extending Sidmouth’s lead to 21-31.
With time very much running out, the home side's bulldozing winger finished off a try, the kick outwide was missed leaving the score 26-31 as the ref said there was one minute left, this made for a very tense finish whilst the home side went in search for the victory.
However, the mighty Green Machine had a clear sight of causing the biggest upset this season, they managed to hold on and secure a famous win on the South Devon coast 26-31.
Sidmouth now turn their focus and attention to a trip up the north Devon link road to play Barnstaple in the Devon Cup Final. The last time Sidmouth was in a Devon Senior Cup final was 1978 when they lost to Exeter 28-13. The joys of cup rugby is that it can go either way on the day.
Knowing the strength and depth of Barnstaple, if Sidmouth are going to come back with the trophy they will need to increase there performance by another level, which this group is more than capable of doing, producing special performances.
As reported by Glenn Channing
