Ray Smart’s side produced their finest performance for several games, as they showed some of the form that has seen them contending at the top of Counties Two Hampshire.

There were several standout performances from the home side, but back row Angus MacCallum shone out with a sparkling performance. He scored his first try got the club, whilst he also assisted in setting up another score for Charlie Simmonds.

The game couldn’t have started any better for St Jacques, after Gearoid Lee quickly pounced on a wayward pass by the Pumas in the first few minutes, to run in unopposed for a simple try. Tom Veillard converted the score.

Locks Heath narrowed the gap with a straightforward penalty kick after the Vikings infringed just outside their 22.

Sam Clarke marked his first appearance for the club with a debut try, after the Pumas struggled the gather the restart. The winger was quick to react to a spilled ball as he ran in and dived over in the corner for an unconverted try.

Whilst the Pumas had plenty of attacking intent, the home side were working hard on defence to nullify the threat, which was mostly focussed around the edge of the breakdown.

Taylor Quate was having another busy game, the powerful centre scored his second try in two weeks after he see saw off four defenders following a Vikings scrum, which was converted by Tom Veillard.

The home side then scored potentially their best try of the afternoon, as the forwards and the backs combined together with a move that started in their 22.

The ball was spun to flyhalf Charlie Simmonds, who attacked the space before finding back-row Mitch Smith. He is deceptively quick, and the Vikings talisman raced clear 30m before putting winger Ed Duerden into space, who also showed impressive speed to see off the remaining defenders and score his first try for the club. Veillard missed the conversion.

Tom Ceillam had now entered play, and he had the expected impact as the experienced Guernsey Raider led from the front with some big tackles and strong carries.

Locks Heath narrowed the gap, after they took advantage of some poor defending to score their first try. The conversion was missed.

The visitors were not done, as they then scored a very impressive try next, which was converted to take them within nine points.

With halftime approaching, up stepped Ceillam as he powered his way over from short range for the Vikings to ensure the Sarnian side went into the break with a decent lead. Veillard added the extras.

The second period started brightly for St Jacques, with MacCallum making a strong break before offloading to Darrin Bellingham. The big prop raced forwards and found Charlie Simmonds on the inside who did the rest to score. The conversion was missed.

Man of the match MacCallum then managed to secure his own try with another dominant carry that the Pumas couldn’t stop, as he forced his way over the try line. Matt Lomas added the conversion.

The next Vikings score heavily involved MacCallum once again, as he charged forward following a Tom Bray carry. The forward went close to scoring his second try of the match, but was halted short of the line. The ball was recycled to Tom Veillard who himself drove forwards, and he impressively recycled the ball to Jacob Smith who powered his way to score. Lomas missed the conversion.

Mitch Smith then scored the final try for the home side, as they rounded off an emphatic result at Footes Lane.

After the match, Ray Smart spoke about his teams performance:

‘That was a bit of a mixed performance, I thought we were really good in stages, but there were other aspects of the game where we need to bring our A game. Locks Heath exposed us defensively several times, but I was also really pleased with the way we attacked for much of the game. We scored some great tries today.’

He added ‘We know we have some big games ahead, but we will keep focussing on ourselves and will enjoy this result today. We need to keep winning, but we will be just focussing the next on the game, which is Millbrook next week.’

The Vikings will take on Millbrook on the Garenne Stand next Saturday at 12.30pm, before Guernsey Raiders tackle Wimbledon.