Last night was a real test of character for Sidmouth, taking a depleted squad to National League 2 side Taunton with around a dozen senior players unavailable through injury or other commitments.

Taunton fielded a very strong side, with their first league fixture coming up next weekend, so we knew we were in for a tough evening.

The first half was made even more challenging by facing into the setting sun and a hellish wind. We found ourselves 35–0 down at half time, but the scoreline probably didn’t reflect the overall performance. Take away a number of isolated and avoidable mistakes and the first half would have been a much closer contest.

There were some really positive aspects. Our defensive effort was solid in parts, while our attacking structure was creating opportunities and space. We showed that we can attack as a team, but also cause enough problems to make the opposition tighten up and create opportunities on the edges.

It was particularly pleasing to see some of our 1st XV fringe players take their chances and show that they are more than capable of stepping up when called upon. We also fielded a number of last season’s Colts, which was fantastic to see and an important part of the club’s progression.

The biggest frustration was our basic skill execution, which has been good so far this season. Too many of the opportunities Taunton created came from our own mistakes, and you simply cannot afford to gift chances to quality opposition.

The reaction after half time was another big positive. Taunton were undoubtedly not at their best in the second half, but we still had to take advantage of that, and we did. We created pressure, put them under stress and played with much more intent. It was pleasing to see the players respond and, importantly, Sidmouth won the second half 7–14.

There are some clear areas to work on — particularly clarity of communication in attack, understanding when and where to use the different parts of our game to ‘unlock the door’, and individual defensive work, as well as tightening up our scrum.

Overall, following tough tests against Barnstaple and Taunton, we genuinely feel we are in a good place. There is plenty to work on, but there are also plenty of positives to take.

The character shown by a depleted squad, the opportunities created in attack, the emergence of some fringe players and last year’s Colts, and the response after half time are all things we can build on.

We move on.