Having had a run of tough fixtures in the last month las Saturday proved to be a case of making hay whilst the sun shone as the Quins let loose in a 10 try demolition of Cullompton at the Blackmore.
Having shared the spoils over their first two meetings this season, albeit the cup loss came in a weekend when the Cully 1st XV were without a fixture, a tough game was expected. However, with Cully showing 11 changes from the cup fixture Sidmouth were simply to good on the day and exerted some level of revenge for that anomalous defeat.
The opening stages were cagey as both sides struggled to settle into any real pattern, with Sidmouth in particular having lots of ball but not really managing to do much with it.
The Quins were hit with an early injury as Harry Backway suffered a suspected dislocated shoulder, but this only led to Colts skipper Kieran Docherty making an early entrance on his senior debut and he did not look out of place in the slightest.
Once Sidmouth started to build some phases the tries started to come. The first saw Lewis Hole perfectly time his short pass to another Colt on debut, Rob Hennesey, who split the Cully defence before drawing the last man and putting Hole in the clear. Hennessy kicked the conversion and Sidmouth were 7 points to the good.
The second try was just as good as Sam Basnett broke the line from a set piece move before Hole was brought down just short of the line. A couple of quick tight phases drew in the Cully defence before the ball was swept wide and Basnett was on hand to pluck the ball off his toes and go over for the score, Hennessey added the extras again.
Sidmouth stretched the lead shortly after as Cully were penalised on the 22m and scrum half Charles Edwards was alert to the opportunity and took a quick tap which he then spread wide to Jack Hembrow who executed a perfect 2 on 1 and put Olly Marsh in the clear to score. Hennessey added a third successful conversion from out wide.
And the bonus point try came directly from the restart as Marsh burst through the centre of the Cully defence before drawing the full back and putting Edwards in the clear to canter under the sticks, Hennessey doing the necessary from the tee and with little over 20 minutes played the game was in the bag.
Debutant Docherty added a debut score from an effective rolling maul shortly after and Hennessey added a 5th successive conversion to leave the score 35-0.
The last 10 minutes of the half was somewhat scrappy as the Quins relaxed a little and let the opposition get a bit of a foothold in the game, although they never looked close to scoring.
Sidmouth could and should have added further scores in the opening minutes of the second half, but the last pass just wouldn’t seem to go to hand. Eventually the pressure told and having stolen Cully ball 10 metres from the visitors line Sidmouth roared into gear. Whilst the initial push was thwarted just short of the line Edwards spotted that Cully had left the blindside short and a fizzing pass found Charlie Farrington Smith in space and there was no stopping the powerful prop forward from that distance and he barrelled over his man for his first senior try.
There then came the only blot on Sidmouth’s copy book as Cullompton profited from a Quins indiscretion and kicked themselves to within 5m of the home try line. Farrington-Smith was a bit quick off the mark as Cully tried to drive over from close distance, and some quick thinking saw the Cully No.7 tap and and go and dive over the line form close range. Quins skipper Tom Butler subsequently had a polite debate with the referee about the technicalities of penalties awarded within 5m of the try line and the outcome was that the referee kindly gave him 10 minutes on the sideline to consider the point further.
Sidmouth bounced straight back with Joe Tandy picking a glorious line off Lewis Hole to surge through the Cully defence and under the sticks for Sidmouth’s 7th try. A slick handling move straight from a scrum brought the 8th as Liam Turley was on hand to finish off in the corner. With two more Hennessey conversions the score was now 54-5.
Luca Manning made his debut off the bench with 20 minutes to go and was straight into the action with a powerful run through the centre of the Cully defence, and when the ball was recycled a fine long pass from Hennessey found Basnett in space and he showed great speed and strength to power over for his second of the afternoon.
Hennessey rounded off proceedings with a debut try of his own after the pack did a demolition job on the Cully scrum and the Quins shifted the ball wide. He couldn’t add the final conversion but a 21 point haul on debut and some eye catching kicking out of hand was a serious statement.
The Quins have just two games left this season starting with a trip to Newton Abbot on 22nd March and then finish with a trip to North Tawton on the first weekend of April.
Sidmouth II: Charlie Farrington-Smith (Jack Hirst), Harry Backway (Kieran Docherty) Chris Otway, Tom Butler (Luca Manning), Alfie Collins, Jake Paget (Richie Hull), Henry Williams, Olly Marsh, Charles Edwards, Joe Tandy, Sam Basnett, Jack Hembrow, Lewis Hole, Liam Turley, Rob Hennessy
Scorers: R Hennessy (T, 8C), L Turley (T), O Marsh, S Basnett (2T), K Docherty (T), L Hole (T), C Farrington-Smith (T), C Edwards (T), J Tandy (T)
Dukes MOTM: Charles Edwards
Having shared the spoils over their first two meetings this season, albeit the cup loss came in a weekend when the Cully 1st XV were without a fixture, a tough game was expected. However, with Cully showing 11 changes from the cup fixture Sidmouth were simply to good on the day and exerted some level of revenge for that anomalous defeat.
The opening stages were cagey as both sides struggled to settle into any real pattern, with Sidmouth in particular having lots of ball but not really managing to do much with it.
The Quins were hit with an early injury as Harry Backway suffered a suspected dislocated shoulder, but this only led to Colts skipper Kieran Docherty making an early entrance on his senior debut and he did not look out of place in the slightest.
Once Sidmouth started to build some phases the tries started to come. The first saw Lewis Hole perfectly time his short pass to another Colt on debut, Rob Hennesey, who split the Cully defence before drawing the last man and putting Hole in the clear. Hennessy kicked the conversion and Sidmouth were 7 points to the good.
The second try was just as good as Sam Basnett broke the line from a set piece move before Hole was brought down just short of the line. A couple of quick tight phases drew in the Cully defence before the ball was swept wide and Basnett was on hand to pluck the ball off his toes and go over for the score, Hennessey added the extras again.
Sidmouth stretched the lead shortly after as Cully were penalised on the 22m and scrum half Charles Edwards was alert to the opportunity and took a quick tap which he then spread wide to Jack Hembrow who executed a perfect 2 on 1 and put Olly Marsh in the clear to score. Hennessey added a third successful conversion from out wide.
And the bonus point try came directly from the restart as Marsh burst through the centre of the Cully defence before drawing the full back and putting Edwards in the clear to canter under the sticks, Hennessey doing the necessary from the tee and with little over 20 minutes played the game was in the bag.
Debutant Docherty added a debut score from an effective rolling maul shortly after and Hennessey added a 5th successive conversion to leave the score 35-0.
The last 10 minutes of the half was somewhat scrappy as the Quins relaxed a little and let the opposition get a bit of a foothold in the game, although they never looked close to scoring.
Sidmouth could and should have added further scores in the opening minutes of the second half, but the last pass just wouldn’t seem to go to hand. Eventually the pressure told and having stolen Cully ball 10 metres from the visitors line Sidmouth roared into gear. Whilst the initial push was thwarted just short of the line Edwards spotted that Cully had left the blindside short and a fizzing pass found Charlie Farrington Smith in space and there was no stopping the powerful prop forward from that distance and he barrelled over his man for his first senior try.
There then came the only blot on Sidmouth’s copy book as Cullompton profited from a Quins indiscretion and kicked themselves to within 5m of the home try line. Farrington-Smith was a bit quick off the mark as Cully tried to drive over from close distance, and some quick thinking saw the Cully No.7 tap and and go and dive over the line form close range. Quins skipper Tom Butler subsequently had a polite debate with the referee about the technicalities of penalties awarded within 5m of the try line and the outcome was that the referee kindly gave him 10 minutes on the sideline to consider the point further.
Sidmouth bounced straight back with Joe Tandy picking a glorious line off Lewis Hole to surge through the Cully defence and under the sticks for Sidmouth’s 7th try. A slick handling move straight from a scrum brought the 8th as Liam Turley was on hand to finish off in the corner. With two more Hennessey conversions the score was now 54-5.
Luca Manning made his debut off the bench with 20 minutes to go and was straight into the action with a powerful run through the centre of the Cully defence, and when the ball was recycled a fine long pass from Hennessey found Basnett in space and he showed great speed and strength to power over for his second of the afternoon.
Hennessey rounded off proceedings with a debut try of his own after the pack did a demolition job on the Cully scrum and the Quins shifted the ball wide. He couldn’t add the final conversion but a 21 point haul on debut and some eye catching kicking out of hand was a serious statement.
The Quins have just two games left this season starting with a trip to Newton Abbot on 22nd March and then finish with a trip to North Tawton on the first weekend of April.
Sidmouth II: Charlie Farrington-Smith (Jack Hirst), Harry Backway (Kieran Docherty) Chris Otway, Tom Butler (Luca Manning), Alfie Collins, Jake Paget (Richie Hull), Henry Williams, Olly Marsh, Charles Edwards, Joe Tandy, Sam Basnett, Jack Hembrow, Lewis Hole, Liam Turley, Rob Hennessy
Scorers: R Hennessy (T, 8C), L Turley (T), O Marsh, S Basnett (2T), K Docherty (T), L Hole (T), C Farrington-Smith (T), C Edwards (T), J Tandy (T)
Dukes MOTM: Charles Edwards
