Exmouth Nomads were beaten 22-0 at home by a strong Sidmouth 2nd XV side that top the league table having suffered just two defeats all season.

The Nomads, slow to start in recent matches, made a good start and pinned the visitors back deep in their own territory.

They managed to launch a number of raids, but each one was thwarted by an organised and disciplined Sidmouth defence.

The Cockles backs looked the more dangerous with Mike Woodcock constantly getting over the gain line and in turn Glenn Layton was able to find spaces to put the rest of the backs into.

This pattern continued for the first 20 minutes of the half with the visiting defence coming out on top each time to frustrate the Nomads.

Sidmouth then managed to get a foothold in the game and Exmouth indiscipline without the ball cost them as the visitors scored two unconverted tries to lead 10-0 at half-time.

The second half followed a similar pattern to the first, again with Exmouth starting on the front foot, but either a poor last pass, or the wrong decision made in attack, led to the home side still being unable to breach the line.

The Nomads’ frustrations were compounded by the way that the match official was interpreting the scrum and this led to a number of scuffles between the packs with Exmouth losing out in this area, conceding a number of penalties.

At this point the referee suffered a hamstring injury, meaning that there was a delay in proceedings whilst the referee from the first XV game made his way over to officiate the last half hour of the match!

This coincided with Exmouth gaining a foothold in the scrum throughout the rest of the match.

Sidmouth dominated the final 15 minutes, scoring two further, well-worked tries to round off a clean-sheet success.

Credit where credit is due, Sidmouth are top of the league for a reason and surely won’t be stopped between now and the end of the season.

They are a very well-drilled and organised side who took their chances well. Dare it be said that the Nomads may have to train in the future to add a little bit of structure to their game?

The Nomads’ Man of the Match was Glenn Layton, who was a constant thorn in the side of Sidmouth all afternoon whilst organising everyone around him throughout proceedings.

The night shirt went to the veteran warrior that is Leigh Ellis, who saw out the last 10 minutes of the game in the sin bin courtesy of giving his handbag a good working out on the opposition; whether any blows actually landed, though, is another story!