CHOSEN HILL FP 26 SIDMOUTH 11

Playing up the slope, Chosen opened the scoring after five minutes when skipper Andy King landed a penalty goal after Sidmouth were caught offside at a ruck and three minutes later, after a sustained period of pressure from their forwards, they went further ahead when second row Dean Barnard finished off a forward drive with an unconverted try near the corner.

Chosen continued to put pressure on their visitors and with just ten minutes gone King added penalty goal number two for an eleven point lead. Sidmouth were having problems containing the home side whose excellent play at the breakdown area kept them going forward and when they were again caught offside at a ruck twenty metres out and in front of the posts, King made no mistake with the simple penalty goal.

The game was being played at a frantic pace with Chosen’s Mike Gardiner at blindside and Justin Andrews at full back both catching the eye with dangerous breaks into the visitors territory but after one such break the home side conceded a penalty for off side and Sidmouth outside half Dan Retter got his side’s first points with a penalty goal after twenty minutes.

With half time approaching Retter landed a second penalty goal but Chosen had the last say of the half when scrum half John Wand broke away from the back of a scrum and released full back Andrews who shipped the ball to winger Ed Higgs who squeezed over in the corner. King missed the conversion but his side went into the break with a comfortable 19 – 6 lead.

The second half saw Sidmouth come more into the game, but several dangerous attacks were halted by some great Chosen defence with one notable effort from centre Matt Elston typifying the commitment of his team to hold out against a side they had not beaten before.

With sixty minutes played Elston’s fellow centre Jon Coles scored Chosen try number three when he broke through and crossed near the posts. King converted to give his side a seemingly unassailable twenty point lead and with about eight minutes remaining Chosen went looking for the bonus point try but they lost the ball and Retter was on hand to scoop it up and cross for a try which he failed to improve on.

An impressive display from Chosen that moved them up to the relative comfort of eighth place in the table. Next week, the men from Churchdown make the long trek to Cornwall to play St Ives in what will be their last away trip of the season that takes them further south than Bristol