Vikings
Matches
Sat 14 Dec 2019
London Irish Wild Geese
L
W
Guernsey St Jacques Vikings
Vikings
Tries: D Bellingham, M Smith, L GardnerConversions: M Lomas (2)

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James Mroch13 Dec 2019 - 12:35
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St Jacques Vikings travel to London Irish Wild Geese on Saturday, looking to put right their one point loss to Maidenhead two weeks ago.

Ray Smart’s side have improved considerably since the start of the season, although the coach would admit they have a long way to go on their development path. The jump up three levels to The Shield Division Two was always likely to be tough but they are putting in huge amounts of work in on the training pitch, and using video analysis to help drive their development. Smart will be hoping that his side can produce a more complete performance this week.

The hosts this weekend have had a mixed season so far, securing several good victories but also losing on several occasions, much like the Vikings thus far. Last weekend London Irish & Maidenhead faced off, with the latter winning 57-7 at home, and whilst Ray Smart will be aware Irish are likely to be much stronger at home, this will be a game that he will hope to secure the result.

The Vikings have several players unavailable or injured for this trip, which has provided the opportunity for several players to step up. The youngest of those is Michael Smith, who is part of a Smith trio in the side this weekend. He makes his first start for the Vikings at prop after making some very impressive displays from the bench since stepping up to this level from the Guernsey Rugby Academy this season. His brothers make up two thirds of the back-row with Mitchell in his usual blind-side flank role, whilst Jacob starts at number 8 with stalwart James Regnard unavailable.

Phil Le Noury has been injured for nearly two months makes his return to the side, and once again he finds himself in the back-row. The versatile former Colt has been playing in the backs for several seasons but steps up to the forwards as he did in his last game against Bournemouth. He produced a solid performance in his last outing in the seven shirt, before injuring his hamstring, he will be hoping there are no such repeats of that on Saturday.

Darrin Bellingham is once again with up in the front row, and he will be hoping to add to his eight tries already this season. He has been a standout performer this season and has really added some firepower up front for Smart’s side.

Pierre de Garis is starting at scrum-half after an assured performance off the bench against Maidenhead in testing ball conditions. The man he has replaced Lucas Barker, is in the centres with Callum Gladstone with Dave Davison unavailable. Taylor Quate is still injured so Leon Collenette starts in his preferred fullback position, with Cam Le Prevost and Kieran Creber on the wings.

On the bench there is a familiar face who has not been seen much recently due to an awful run of injuries, but number 8 Luke Skovronek is set to make his return. He was a regular for the Raiders several seasons ago, but the former East Grinstead man has been unable to string together a run of performances but will be hoping that can change from here on out. There is also a new face on the Vikings bench, Sean Gnanih is a new recruit for the Raiders and will get a run out for the Vikings this week as he settles in.

This is the last game of 2019 for St Jacques and they will be hoping to end the year with a good performance and a victory.

Match details

Match date

Sat 14 Dec 2019

Kickoff

14:00
Team overview
Further reading

Team Sponsors

Bronze Sponsor - Deloitte
Player Sponsor - Barber Jay
Player Sponsor - Sacred Hand Tattoo
Player Sponsor  - Specsavers
Player Sponsor - Grant Thornton
Player sponsor  - Raise The Bar Fitness
Player Sponsor - GFF
Player Sponsor - Collas Crill
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Shirt Sponsor - Ravenscroft Stockbroking & Investment Management
Sponsor  - Granite Le Pelley