Vikings leave it late to secure first victory

They secured a narrow victory over Sutton & Epsom in a close run affair, that ebbed and flowed either way right up until the final whistle.

After losing to Bracknell last week the Vikings went into the game knowing they needed to be far more aggressive and this showed in their performance, albeit potentially a little too much at times. Some big hits were put in early on by the Vikings forwards but they also gave away several penalties for late and high tackles, and Sutton and Epsom made this count.

From a successful lineout following a penalty the hosts spread the ball across their backline and a couple of missed tackles proved costly as Sutton ran in their first try.

Several minutes later they extended their lead with their second try to be 12-0 to the good.

Things nearly got worse for the Vikings following a penalty in their own twenty-two, as the strong Sutton forwards opted to scrum from 5 yards out. The hosts drove forwards in what was a messy scrum and ended up with the Sutton no 8 dropping the ball as they went over the line. A reprieve for the Vikings!

At half-time the Vikings regrouped and coach Matt Chammings rang several changes. Young prop Tom Bray came on and helped steady the scrum and the experience of former Raider Dave Davison in the back-line also showed immediately.

But the Vikings were quickly reduced to 14 men as captain Darrin Bellingham was the unfortunate player to receive a yellow card early on in the second half as the visitors discipline continued to let them down, and Bellingham was sent on his way for 10-minutes for a late tackle.

But it was the Vikings who opened the second half scoring when Nick Merrien bundled his way over the line and Matt Lomas slotted the conversion.

Vikings piled on the pressure and soon after Cam Le Provost showed some great footwork to beat two defenders and get over the line under the posts.

Lomas then slotted a penalty from 30 yards for the Vikings to take the lead, but this was short lived when Sutton responded with a try of their own.

Kieran Creber, on from the bench, managed to steal the ball in a tackle and with no one in front of him sprinted for the line to score.

Two minutes later Vikings once again switched off when Sutton quick tapped a penalty from half way and ended up running in under the posts, they took the lead 26-20 with 8 minutes to play.

With only minutes remaining the Vikings had a lineout on Sutton’s twenty-two, they impressively caught the ball and drove the Sutton pack all the way back over their line with Nick Merrien emerging as the try scorer. Lomas cooly slotted the conversion to take a 26-27 lead into the dying seconds.

Vikings were awarded a penalty not long after the restart, and the dependable boot of Matt Lomas put them on the Sutton twenty-two with time to take the lineout only. The Vikings caught and drove again but this time the home side defended sternly, and with the maul veering towards the touch line captain Darrin Bellingham broke from the back and singlehandedly ran in a very impressive try, dragging four Sutton defenders over the line with him. Lomas converted and the game ended 26-34.

In what was a scrappy affair St Jacques will be pleased how they hauled themselves back into the game after a very poor first half, but know they need to continue working on their defence if they want to be truly effective at this testing level.