14 May Round 4 Review
Round 4 – Match Report – 1st Grade.
The Vikings returned to action after a week’s break to play their second home game of the season on a coolish and dry day against the Gungahlin Eagles. With 14 out of the 15 starting side from their last outing, the men in Red were keen to keep their unbeaten start to the season and secured a 6 tries to 1 victory despite not producing their best on the day.
The Vikings were running with the aid of slight breeze at their backs in the first half with the Eagles camped for a long period in the Red Men’s half. With the forwards set piece providing a stable platform especially at scrum time, the Vikings stood strong to keep their line in tack for the first quarter of the match. The Viking’s rolling maul was proving a major force to deal with Slamin’ Sam Thomas crashing over for his 1st pointer of the afternoon after 20 minutes of play. After a barnstorming run from Joe Wadman, Max Ravouvou would catch the defence off guard with a quick tap to offload to a storming Titi Nofogatotoa to crash over out wide for JD Lealiifano to add the extras for 12 to 0 lead to the Vikings. The men in Red were in again after some brilliant interplay and passing across the line that saw a flying Lachie Davis deliver a brilliant offload to Sam Thomas backing up on the inside to scoot over for his 2nd try of the day. JD added the conversion to see the lead out to 19 points with just on 10 minutes to half time. With the forwards controlling the ruck with the rolling maul proving hard to stop, Frenchman Maxime Turrel would join the try scoring list to burrow his way over the line for the teams to head to the halftime break with Vikings well in control at 24 to 0.
The 2nd half started with the Vikings looking for a more clinical display with livewire winger Lachie Davis sniping runs causing alarm bells to ring for the Eagles. However, the men from the North, were the first scorers of the half to grab a converted try after 5 minutes. The Vikings forwards continued their dominant play to smother the Eagle’s attack before another darting run by Lachie Davis down the touch line that would see the ever-present Baden Godfrey on hand to grab a great try out wide. Sharpshooter, JD Lealiifano, would nail the conversion to extend the score to 31 to 7 with a quarter of the game remaining. As the clock ticked down, a number of replacements joined the fray with evergreen Andrew Robinson making a long-range surge before Sila Titiuti would join his front partners to grab the last try to see the final score of 38 to 7 in favour of the Redmen. In the post-game huddle, Coach Scrivener made mention of a number of things that the side needs to work on following a somewhat low key warm up prior to the game.
With the forward pack leading the way, the men in Red remain in top spot on the table after 4 rounds of the John I Dent cup. Man mountain, Sila Titiuti would collect 3 Points after a dominant display up front. Lachie Davis would grab 2 Points for his enterprising display to continue his outstanding start to the season with partners in crime, destructive flankers in Baden Stephenson and Lachlan Hooper would pick up a point each.
The livewire Lachie Davis would also grab the Players Player award after his great display on the wing. With the club winning all 6 grades that saw a free keg on tap at the Zoo, the beers were certainly flowing well into the evening. Next week, the club makes the journey to the city to play the Uni-Norths Owls as it continues to build momentum and consistency over the next few weeks. Go the mighty Vikings and Viqueens.
Player’s Player: Lachie Davis
3-2-1’s:
3 Points: Sila Titiuti
2 Points: Lachlan Davis
1 Point each to Baden Godfrey and Lachlan Hooper
Round 4 – Match Report – 2nd Grade.
What a game what a day; Red Men welcoming back the men of Oak, two of their favourite sons Mikey (moustache) and Dean (clean shaven) Oakman-Hunt.
The sun was shining as the defending premier’s took the field for their first game of the season on beautiful VP1. They faced off against a much-changed Gungahlin side with Jamie Kotz stiffening the midfield, Antonio Vailoaloa fixing their scrum woes and Jay Lualua adding control at 10 the latter two training at VP before braving the Pass of Cirith Ungol to return to Nicholls.
The first score of the match not occurring until the 10th minute where after sustained pressure MIB’s #4 was binned for cynical entry at the maul. The Red pack took a TH at scrum and a rampaging Robbo powered through defenders allowing Chilly Dylly Chalitta the simplest pick and go to dot down. New fullback and kicker Tom the Pom slotting the conversion with ease 7-0. Lead didn’t last long with Jez forgetting how to tackle at 14th minute allowing the MIB’s #11 to waltz through and dot down under the sticks 7-7.
Two minutes later Travis Pula was in the naughty chair for an innocuous but late challenge on Black 11, a cynical man would say perhaps a square up after the same player was unpunished for a high shot in the trial match that saw Pula ruled out with concussion for 3 weeks. This left the Red D-Line a man short with Pappy Douglas left to cover two men down his wing and not able to stop the stocky Fijian from Gungahlin after having to bite on the inside man. 7-14 Black.
20-minute mark – outstanding defensive lineout pressure throwing Moustachioed OH in the air causing a loose ball on a black throw, allowing Reece Chin to drift through, gather and score untouched, Tom the Pom again adding the extras. 14-14
28 Minutes Pappy Douglas beaten on the outside (eating a knee and ringing his own bell in the action) allowed the 14 Black another opportunity to score 14-21.
31 Minutes just the Oakman-Hunts doing twin things with another no look inside ball from Mikey to Deano allowing Dean to scythe through the defence, set a platform with a Baby-faced Leiper pick and go to score. 19-21 @ Oranges.
3 minutes in to the second half under advantage and Leiper again picks and goes this time with MOH as the hammer driving over to dot down to the left of the sticks; Hargan Converts 26-21.
16 minutes later, a well-constructed Maul bounce out play on the attacking 22 play sets Leiper free again to run 17 hard metres shedding bodies like Corona-Virus to create the platform. Chin from the back of the ruck to Mikey, the Twin-Telepathy works again with another no look inside ball allowing Dean to dot down between the sticks for the easiest try of his career. Hargan Converts 33-21.
4 minutes to go on the clock sustained pressure by red in the A-Zone causes black to infringe at the ruck, “Dewy” Hoare understands the advantage in play and dinks over the rushing D-Line for a ball that sits up for Hargan, who forgets he is the kicker and dots down without working through to the sticks leaving him unable to convert 38-21.
Swani Puteho makes clumsy attempt to block the restart chaser gives a PK on the 22m to black. A series of penalties from the fatigued red men allows black a final opportunity to trouble the scorers.
The game was a Battle Royale, a physical 70-minute fight leaving bodies broken, bruised and battered and the good guys running out victors 28-21
Players’ Player: Joel ‘Baby-Faced” Leiper
3-2-1’s:
3 Points: Joel ‘Baby-Faced” Leiper
2 Points: Michael Oakman-Hunt
1 Point: Reece Chin
Round 4 – Match Report – Colts
Viking Park turned on a cracking day for our first game of the season against the Eagles Colts whom we hadn’t played since the trials.
Same result though and great to get another win against a good opposition. The score was 24-18, four tries to two.
Losing Caleb Sione to an ankle injury within 5 mins after kickoff was a curve ball but we had a good replacement in Josh ‘Truck’ Weir and the scrum lost no momentum and in fact was the dominant scrum but was rarely rewarded by the game official.
Travis ‘Shorty’ Grady kicked off the scoring, scooping up a loose ball from a scrum, dummied to his right and scooted over with the Eagles flanker hanging off him. From no tries at all in 2022 to two in the first 4 rounds – he’s on fire and wasn’t shy about telling anyone in the Zoo afterwards.
Shorty was again involved in the second try, charging down a clearing kick for Grayson Te Moana to casually pick up the loose ball and dot down over the line. At the 28min mark the Eagles opted for a penalty shot at goal instead of a line kick and that may have hurt them at the full-time whistle.
Scoring then turned into the Shane Wilcox show after that, for his first he danced down the left sideline on a 70m run that left at least 4 Eagles played grasping at thin air and for his second he was on the end of some very slick backline passing after some very nice work on the ball by replacement flanker Moses Prescott, who got an opportunity for more game time and rewarded the coaches with a dominant effort.
Very tense last 6 minutes with one coach feeling the pressure more than the other coach and rightly so on the back of some weird decisions but the lads held out with the game ending with the Eagles fluffing a line out option right on full time. Great to get a win and we roll onto the students next Sat out at ANU North.
Scorers: Shane Wilcox 2T and 2C/Travis Grady 1T and Grayson Te Moana 1T
Players Player: Travis Grady.
3-2-1’s:
3 Points: Travis Grady
2 Points: Logan Pou
1 Point: Moses Prescott
Round 4 – Match Report – ViQueens
With a late start, the Queens took a little while to settle in but once the right gear was found they were off.
Solid effort form our forwards with a try to Monique Henderson and valiant efforts from Stef until sent to the blood bin with a souvenir. Just as the girls were on a roll, the game was stopped short by the ref.
The welcome return of Gab Petersen, Tabua Tuinakauvadra, Zali Waihape-Andrews, Gisela Vea, Martha Fua and Shont’e Toa.
Players Player: Vika Ngata
Round 4 – Match Report – 3rd Grade.
The Eagle has (crash) landed – a great wedge tailed eagle flew into the Valley of Vikings Valhalla but was soon sent to Helheim. Round 4 saw the visiting Gungahlin Eagles come down to earth against a strong White Squad brimming with talent. With three fresh reserves for thirds, we were ready and keen to strike.
Once again, a strong forward pack laid the foundation for Coach Dan’s plan to clip the wings of the eagles. However, early scrum dominance by eagles looked to make it a long day for Vikings – the forwards soon warming up to the challenge – the Vikings scrum soon corrected and put us on the front foot to dominant at set piece for the rest of the game with several walk-over tighthead scrum wins with a powerful pack across all eight. Our line-out similarly soared just ahead of the well drilled Eagles – once on the ground a strong maul leading to Vikings first try – Semisi diving over for the 5 points.
Soon the Eagles got onto good field position and had us under pressure in our own half. After some strong defence – we eventually ‘cracked’ with Eagles breaching our line twice in close succession – Eagles soaring with 12 points.
A continue forward dominance saw the game open up the middle of the park as our Vikings went raiding over and over again – Matt Jolley busting the defence from the 10-meter line looking for road kill speed humps with trademark power and pluck as he cut his way up the field soaring 60 meters for an excellent solo try. Not less than 1 minute after the restart did we all see and feel deja-vu in a repeat bustling run initiated by Matt – with a few offloads thrown-in, Matt receiving the ball once again before the defence stopped us short of the line.
The second-half saw the backs getting the rewards of the dominant forward pack – Naps finishing off a great run to cross the line. And joined later by Amani in a smooth finish to some great hands and running rugby.
Not to be outshone by the backs or Matt’s runs Semisi looked dangerous busting tackles – to his surprise after beating 3 defenders had a 25 meter almost clear run to the line, you could see and feel the dread of the full back with Semisi at full flight bearing down to score. A well-earned rest for our Players Player and double try scoring man having a little sit down and hydration – while the conversion was taken.
Unfortunately for Gungahlin their raid on at our Viking home turf saw the great eagles’ wings clipped as Vikings headed for Valhalla to out-gun the lads for gunners – final score 29-12. The second win for the day that would lead to all grades being Victorious Vikings at the end of play.
Players-Player went to Semisi Qalova
3-2-1s:
3 Points: Josh ‘Davo’ Davis – strong in set piece and dangerous in defence – harassing the rucks all day and soaring above the eagles in flight at line-out.
2 Points: Matt ‘Captain-Courageous’ Jolley – blistering speed and power for the full 70 minutes. Carving up the middle and a legendary 60 meter run to cross the line.
1 Point: Ngarima ‘Naps’ Low – Good in the back three for the first time – strong runs and reward to cross the line.
Round 4 – Match Report – 4th Grade.
Frosty Fourths Clip Eagles Wings – 6 May v Eagles
Despite general weather concerns for a bleak weekend, a clear and warm autumn morning greeted Vikings 4th Grade as they prepared to return from the bye and start off another home game taking on the Eagles at Viking Park.
Whilst around 30 names were bandied about between Thursday training and game day, 24 brave souls warmed up on game day and the negotiated unlimited interchange and rotations agreed with the Eagles meant plenty of game time for all.
The game settled in between the 22s as two large forward packs grinded it out up front. The returning Matt Wafer from 6 weeks of pork pies and pints meant the team had a leader to follow as Wafes charged forward making metres with every run. Old father time Adam Meyer was usually just behind him alongside workhorse Surrey Beaver backrower Brandon Craig. The rest of the pack rose to the occasion with other returning players Clayton Hawke, Conan Va’aga relishing it in tight. For the second game in a row, young Colt Moses Prescott was everywhere and fellow Colt Corey Thompson busy as usual.
In the backs, Captain for the week and evergreen veteran Toby O’Brien was running a clinic with support from Surrey Beaver flyhalf Brandon Gatto and the Sanday brothers Will and Steve galloping on the flanks. The backline was humming largely to the speedy and clean service of young Caelan Caldwell at scrumhalf.
Tries in first half to Clayton Hawke, Corey Thompson and Jordy Van Last and then a brilliant long range try to Steve Sanday in the second half combined to perfect kicking from the Canadian super boots, Brandon Gatto and Nathan Hutchinson meant a comfortable bonus point victory 28 -12. Great support for 3rd Grade that followed made this a cracking start to the day from the mighty 4ths.
Players Player: Brandon Craig.
3-2-1’s
3 Points: Brandon Craig.
2 Point: Caelan Caldwell
1 Point: Toby (split head) O’Brien
