St Austell RFC left themselves a mountain to climb after shipping fifteen points in as many minutes in an error strewn opening. Winger Sam Heathcote finished a flowing move in the Clubhouse corner and then quickly followed up with a great individual effort to touch down a chip-kick and chase. Fly-half James Docherty added a conversion and a penalty to delight of the home support.

Skipper Ben Plummer dragged his side back into the game with a brilliant first half performance that included a brace of tries before the interval. The centre made a powerful run to finish in the corner after forwards Adam Powell and Cam Taylor made some big dents in the home defence. This was quickly followed by a superbly worked move that allowed the Saints skipper to cut through the home defence (15-12). Saints went in search of a third try, but the home defence managed to get under hooker Pete Harris before he could touchdown. Both sides were struggling with the tackle height and Sidmouth picked off another three points to go 18-12 in front. The referee’s patience finally ran out when he sent home centre Lewis Hole to the bin just before the half time whistle for another hit that rode up too high.

The Saints started the second period with purpose and a sustained period of pressure was finished off by Matt Shepherd (18-17). Flanker Hector Bright was taken out dangerously in the air at the restart with home flanker Thomas Hodge shown a yellow card that could easily have been a red. The visitors were now firmly in control and took the lead with a Shepherd penalty after Sidmouth held on too long (18-20). The home side were now infringing with increasingly regularity and Saints’ frustrations boiled over with Shepherd sent to the sinbin for voicing his concerns. The game turned when the Saints pressed the self-destruct button, a stray pass was intercepted, and Sidmouth finished under the posts (25-18). With home belief rekindled, Sidmouth grabbed a fourth try to give themselves a seven-point margin. The Cornishmen pummelled away deep into time added on, but the green wall held firm to deliver the home side’s their first win of the season.

The Saints will have much to think about during the week before they take on second placed Exmouth at Tregorrick next Saturday (KO 2:30pm).

Saints Star Player – Ben Plummer: a standout performance from the Saints Skipper who led the first half revival with two tries.