On a bright but blustery day, supporters numbering well over 100 turned out at the KGV to witness Ray Smarts side overcome Shoreham 25-13, which in the end was a far tighter result than many would have predicted before the match.

The match was the last for two of the Viking's best young players Tom Rihoy & Ben Holland. Both are leaving the island for sometime and they will have been very pleased to secure a victory in their last game in black-and-yellow for the time being.

Whilst the Vikings have had the perfect start to the season winning all five of their away fixtures, and being able to field a strong squad for each match, Shoreham had been suffering with a lengthy injury list, and like most teams in Sussex Two they could only dream of having the quality squad depth of the Vikings. This showed in their results as they had won only two of their previous six matches, however they had nearly all of their injured contingent back for this match, and it showed as they produced a dogged performance and reminded people exactly why they were one of the strongest teams in the division last season.

The Vikings have had better days, they were nowhere near their best and were forced to dig deep for the victory, however whilst this would have been frustrating for Ray Smart and his coaching team they will have been pleased with the character shown from their players to get the result.

The game started brightly for the Vikings, from the kick-off they were quickly on the attack and keen to play their expansive style of play. They found themselves on the scoreboard within the first 10 minutes, following an excellent try by young former Academy winger Cameron Le Prevost. Attacking towards the changing rooms end they were just inside the Shoreham half and sent the forward runners straight down the middle of the park. They then quickly spun the ball wide after sucking in several visiting defenders and the ball found its way into Le Prevosts’ hands near the right-hand touchline. He showed excellent feet to hold the defender before neatly going around him and storming for the line with only one covering defender ahead who could not do enough to stop him scoring a try that he probably had no right to score. Matt Lomas missed with his conversion attempt from far out wide, which was not surprising considering the strong wind which was whistling across the pitch.

The Vikings were on the scoresheet not too long after again and this time it was man-of-the Mitchell Smith who scored. The second-row once again produced an astounding performance, he is one of the most consistent Vikings players and he never seems to have a bad game. His strong carries with the ball in hand helped ensure the Vikings got over the gain-line, and he was solid in defence and controlled the line-out excellently all match. He scored his try in typical fashion following one of his big carries deep into the Shoreham defence. They tried on several occasions to bring him down but from a few metres out he did enough to break all would-be tackles and touched down. Lomas added the extras to give the Vikings a good early lead.

The tide was turning however, Vikings were now becoming scrappy with the ball in hand and when on defence they were not effective enough in the initial tackle, allowing Shoreham to make good metres downfield. This coupled with a dominant scrum and driving maul for the visitors, meant the Vikings were being dragged into a dogfight and quite often were coming out of it on the wrong side of referee Colin Vaudins’ whistle. Shoreham possess a quality goal kicker, and even with the testing conditions he was able to get them on the scoresheet with a good kick following a Vikings indiscretion.

The visitors then built on that lead with their only try of the game which came via a driving maul. That opportunity was created once again by a Vikings infringement which lead to a penalty and from the resulting lineout they drove well towards the line before breaking off to score, which was subsequently converted.

The Vikings now only had a 2 point lead as half-time approached, but they were awarded a simple penalty in front of the posts and Lomas slotted the kick to add a little breathing space.

After the break the Vikings were significantly better, Ray Smart would have not been pleased with much of their first half showing and whatever he said at half-time certainly worked. Whilst they were not able to score at will like they have much of this season so far, they were stringing phases together and not conceding penalties in the number of the first period. Shoreham remained resolute in defence, but on attack they struggled to make such an impact and didn’t appear incredibly likely to threaten the Vikings line now that the black-and-yellows were making most of their first up tackles.

Inside-centre Lucas Barker was carrying the ball well, as was replacement back-row Mark Johnson who was everywhere over the pitch and making impressive tackles, and he secured several important turnovers for the Vikings.

As Shoreham tired they began to give away penalties, and Matt Lomas was keen to extend the lead from the tee. He slotted a good penalty kick to take the Vikings the lead to 10 points. Shoreham then scored their final points of the game, once again it was from the tee and their talented kicker notched up the three points to close the gap.

James Regnard had been having a quiet game by his standards up to now, however he quickly turned that around as he ensured the Vikings would come away with the victory. The big back-rower collected the ball just outside the Shoreham 22 and no defenders were able to stop him charging over the line out-wide. For the second week in a row Lomas saved his best kick till last as he sweetly slotted over an excellent conversion to fully put the game to bed.

It was in the most part not a pretty performance by the Vikings, however they will be pleased they got the job done against a very spirted opposition. They move onto second placed Midhurst this weekend, once again on the road before welcoming St Francis to the KGV on the 17th November.

B Paul
L Gardner ©
N Ashplant
M Smith
B Webb
C Croft
T Rihoy
J Regnard
B Holland
M Lomas
J Le Roux
L Barker
C Sullivan
C Le Prevost
L Collenette

J Mroch
T Bray
T Richie-Bandy
M Johnson
P Le Noury
C Cahill
T Chammings