Vikings win the ‘Battle of the Saints’

Ray Smart was hoping for an improved performance from his side, and whilst what they delivered was far from perfect it was vastly improved from the opening weekend victory over Newick. They scored five tries in total, including one a piece for debutants Lucas Barker and Barnaby Paul. It was a good showing from all of the Vikings debutants in fact, with both Barker and Paul impressing along with Kiwi no 8 Mark Johnson, who picked up the man of the match award at full time. They clearly looked strong players and are good additions to Ray Smarts squad.

The Vikings started the game well, new flyhalf Matt Lomas again impressed with good distribution in testing conditions, and his partner at inside centre Gearoid Lee also produced an excellent performance which allowed the Vikings to spread the ball wide and attack the St Francis defence with good intent.

It was Lucas Barker who kicked off the scoring for the visitors however down the left side touchline. The big winger had plenty to do after receiving the ball not far into the St Francis half following several good phases from the Vikings, it was eventually spun out to him and he made no mistake with a quality finish in the corner. Leon Collenette who had a fairly good day with the boot considering the conditions was unable to slot the wide conversion attempt.

As was expected St Francis were a big side, and they peppered the Vikings defence with big runners, but for the most part struggled to make significant enough gains to threaten the Vikings line regularly enough to look likely of making an impact in the game. The black and yellows generally demonstrated good defence and forced error after error from the home side, although at times they were attempting tackles too high against big men. This is something they will want to improve on to make their defence even more effective, particularly against the stronger teams in the league.

The Vikings extended their lead in the first half through hooker Nico Ashplant, who scored his second try in as many games. The opportunity was created by an excellent run from Gearoid Lee, who jinked his way through the would be St Francis defenders before delivering a crisp pass to the onrushing Ashplant who dived over on the lefthand side of the pitch. Leon Collenette added the extras.

St Francis got their first points of the match soon after, following a Vikings infringement in front of their posts. The St Francis kicker slotted the simple penalty attempt to get them on the board.

Barnaby Paul then scored his debut try shortly afterwards, as once again sustained pressure and good distribution skills from the Vikings backs ensures they went beyond the home defensive line. From short range Paul collected the ball and drove with power to force himself over to extend the lead to 16 points heading into halftime, with the conversion slotted again by Leon Collenette.

After the break the Vikings struggled to keep their shape and structure in attack, and this unsurprisingly coincided with periods of sustained pressure for the home side. However the Vikings defence was strong, and whilst on attack for a while nothing was going right for them St Francis looked unlikely to score.

Connor Sullivan was now on from the bench and he instantly reminded everyone how much of a quality player he is. He carried with real vigour, and showed great feet and distribution skills to cause many of problems for the hosts.

Dave Haimes had also now entered the fold from the bench, and whilst he struggled to see significant ball on the wing with the Vikings attack faltering for a while, once he was freed with space he made no mistake in driving deep into the hosts half after leaving the defenders in his wake. He didn’t quite have the legs to finish however, but Callum Gladstone was in close support and he offloaded to Brad Webb close to the line to complete the score. Collenette missed the conversion.

St Francis then scored their only try and whilst it was clear from early on they were never likely to win the match, it was nothing less than they deserved for playing their part in the match, and their continuous efforts to break Vikings defensive line. Unsurprisingly their score came from multiple phases with their forwards, and after stringing together several prolonged phases they bundled their way over the line. The score was clearly significant to the hosts, as the celebrations which followed resembled that of winning the match.

The Vikings had the last word however, Ben Holland who was by now playing at fullback executed a near perfect set move off the back of a scrum which was clearly straight from the training ground. The young Viking burst straight through the Home defence with a solid running line, but was unable to clear the final defender and offloaded to captain Callum Gladstone who finished off the scoring. Matt Lomas added the extras to bring about full time to the match and a deserved victory for the Vikings.

1. B Paul
2. N Ashplant
3. D Anderson
4. M Smith
5. J Smith
6. B Webb
7. C Croft
8. M Johnson
9. B Holland
10. M Lomas
11. L Barker
12. G Lee
13. C Gladstone (c)
14. C Le Prevost
15. L Collenette

16. T Ritchie-Bandy
17. C Sullivan
18. D Haimes
19. D Horscraft