Vikings away to Romsey

Match Report 1 Oct 17

Romsey 35 - Fareham & Gosport Vikings 35

Well, what a difference a week makes. Several of the Vikings turned up without the spark that was so much in evidence last week - and they were quickly punished for it. Early in the first quarter Romsey ran up an impressive 3 try lead. They were able to do this due to the Viking’s poor rucking, poor tackling and repeated failure to realign after broken play. All signs of a team who were not concentrating on the task at hand. This allowed Romsey to do what Vikings did the previous week and pass the ball down the line to their wings and score. That said, there were some signs of the spirit shown last week with Ciaran running across the pitch to put in a great try-saving tackle and Alec putting in some ferocious work as usual. End of Q1: 15-0 to Romsey

The second quarter was much improved and Vikings went back to basics. They secured the ball and got it to the backs, allowing Ciaran to run in 3 quick tries, one set up by a storming run by Finn who showed great drive and body angle that let him keep ploughing forward. The fourth try of the quarter was another repeat of last week’s ability to react quickly, and take a quick tap and go whilst the opposition were in disarray. End of Q2: 20-15 to Vikings.

Romsey came back at the Vikings at the start of the third quarter boosted by a forward who was larger than any of the coaches. Unfortunately, the strong tackling shown by some of the Vikings was not matched the rucking of others and Romsey were able to equalise early in the quarter. Another penalty to Vikings, taken quickly and driven forward by Callum this time, led to another try but this was quickly repeated by Romsey who took their own quick penalty and poor realignment by Vikings allowed them to equalise once more. Romsey then went ahead again, poor tackling, including a high tackle, allowing them to run through a ragged Vikings defence. A penalty and a quick tap came to the aid of Vikings once again and Ciaran ran in another try to equalise. The despite a great tackle by Ollie Groth, making his debut for the Vikings, too many of the Vikings were slow to get back and defend and allowed another try to Romsey. End of Q3: 35-30 to Romsey.

The final quarter was hard fought, with most of the Vikings working hard in defence and attack. Ciaran was able to turn this into points, scoring the only try of the quarter and ending the game on a draw. Final Score: 35-35.

Last week I was writing this report praising the team effort that had gone into such an inspiring win. This week I find myself wondering how to write about a game where there were moments of excellence, with players who worked their hearts out, marred by periods when some members of the team switched off, hung back and left the hard work to their team mates. But let’s focus on those who did well. Ciaran has to be mentioned as the scorer of 6 of the tries, with Tom getting the credit for the other one. The pack won several balls against the head and Boris came on and worked his heart out and he deserves a mention. Ollie Groth had his first run out and, despite being new to the game, showed some of the more experienced players how to tackle. A great try-saving tackle got him the Tackle of the Match award. The hard work in driving forward and tackling got Finn and Callum Viking of the Week and Player of the Week respectively. Well done to all of you who worked hard today to secure this result.