Round 8: Vikings Reserve Grade vs Kempsey Cannonballs

A perfect Saturday met the Reggies at Crescent head to take on the Kempsey Cannonballs.
Though the boys were coming off a good win vs Coffs Snappers the previous week, they all knew that Cannonballs at home was a different beast which would require them to roll up their sleeves and get down and dirty…
And that’s exactly how they started the game, tough hard old school rugby with the old boys up front doing the damage early on and getting dominant field postion and possession.
A Viking lineout 10m out from Cannons line saw a well constructed maul set up and drive hard towards the Kempsey line, the whistle blew for a try and when the pile up unravelled a smiling very chuffed old fella stood up proudly hanging on to the ball to let everyone know who would go in the score book, 1st try went to Dave “dog”Nichols..
The next 10 mins saw the Vikings remain dominant and even though errors stalled the scoreboard momentarily, it was finally ticked over again when our returning Blake Goodridge snuck over for a 5 pointer and showed us why those Yanks loved having him for the past 4 months.. up 10 nil the game looked in control though the scoreboard didn’t reflect it until a late try in the first half from Fullback Zarn made the score reflect the dominance shown early.
Discipline and the possession tide started to turn and the cannons managed to crack the line and keep scores tight going into halftime. With oranges coming out the feeling amongst the group was high, and determined to go on with the job the boys went out to try and close out the game, but first the struggle for supremacy saw the game going end to end with both side showing attacking flare with no reward, under some extended pressure from poor discipline the Vikings gritted their teeth to defend solidly, until finally getting possession of their own to see a great show of strength close to the line where Hainzy crashed over to push the score along, kicking the conversion gave the boys some breathing space, but not for long as Kempsey came charging back to score again and the nerves started to get tested as momentum seemed to have swung the Cannons way before a cannon’s kick for field possession saw our boys find some space on the return with a brilliant burst of speed and a step Benji Marshall would be proud of by Zarn Durdevic put the game beyond reach.
Kempseys never say die attitude saw them score late in the game but the clock was against them and victory was finally the Vikings when the whistle eventually sang out. Final score 29 to 17.
Special memtions for the return of Ash Grieves from shoulder surgery, whose impact was felt instantly when taking the field, also to Blake Goodridge playing first game back and his first game at scrum half and doing a great job.
Points went too
3. Fullback Zarn Durdevic
2. Number 7 William Twigg
1. Each to the old boys Clint Wright and Dave Nichols who each played almost full games with only one recognised front rower on bench.

Player Player also Went to the slicing Fullback Zarn Durdevic who was tested all day with a good kicking game from Kempsey but defused everything they threw at him..
Bring on Pirates next week..