Oops answered my own question, I didn’t have wp_head() set to replace the default sidebar which inserts the function.php specified wrapper code automatically.
For laymen, don’t forget to consult Codex on get_posts to generate your desired output
http://codex.ww.wp.xz.cn/Template_Tags/get_posts
The array should include number of posts otherwise it will default to 5. You can override the limit altogether with -1.
'numberposts' => 10,
'numberposts' => -1,
