Match report by John Leatham

Vikings 34 - Currie 36

A blustery cold Sunday morning saw the vikings entertain Currie in our first league game of the season.

The Vikings had a strong squad to pick from with the luxury of a full bench.

I'm not sure what they have for breakfast in Currie but they had a number of very big players. The warm up focused on looking for double tackles in defence to counteract the physical mismatch. The boys were brave and committed but when these big boys were going at full tilt it was a tall order to stop the momentum.

The game was a see- saw affair with the vikings keeping their noses in front until the dying minutes.

The Vikings played some excellent rugby at times, moving the ball incisively to the edges and constantly looking to attack with pace in space and not get sucked into an arm wrestle with their big boys.

The try of the day came courtesy of a fantastic diagonal kick from debutant Lewis Thompson off a set piece for another debutant Max Robertson to dot down in the corner.

It was a metaphor for the day, the vikings scoring tries with daring, skill and interplay against tries conceded by the blunt force of curries huge carriers.

With the ties scored the Vikings were launching wave after wave of attack on the Currie line to secure the win only for Currie to secure a turnover and run the length of the pitch for a decisive score as time was close to expiry. A shattering blow.

The response of this Vikings team speaks volumes to the strength of their character.

They had one more possession to go get a draw. The boys rolled their sleeves up and gave everything they had for the cause. With the last play Henry Leatham crashed over to give us a chance for the draw. Sadly the conversion leaked wide and we had to take a tough loss on the chin.

The boys should take consolation from knowing that lesser teams would have folded against such a physically superior team and that they are consistently displaying the sort of intangible qualities that will lead them to success in the future.

Offensive player of the game was Lewis Thompson and defensive player of the game was Edward Russell.