HASTINGS Valley Vikings continued their record of rarely losing two games in a row with a hard-fought 23-6 win over Kempsey Cannonballs at Oxley Oval on Saturday.
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The 17-point victory on Dave McCormack Memorial Day ensured the Vikings bounced back from an 11-point defeat last week.
Coach Mark Howard said the day was always one they marked in the calendar.
“We know this is a special day for our club,” he said.
“We all carry Dave in our heart so days like today when we need a bit of extra motivation he’s there for us to help get us over the line.”
Fittingly, McCormack’s son Hamish was one of the Vikings best and led the way particularly in the second half when the Vikings found their groove.
“That’s why he’s our captain – he can lead from the front,” Howard said.
“When we needed someone to stand up he stood up and took the line on really hard. Then the boys just followed him after that.”
The Vikings trailed 6-0 early, but then scored 23 unanswered points through tries to Kye Alpin, Bryce Claes and Dan Willoughby.
Howard said the Vikings were slow to get going, particularly in the first half and they trailed 6-5 at the break in a stop-start opening 40 minutes.
We all carry Dave in our heart so days like today when we need a bit of extra motivation he’s there for us to help get us over the line.
- Vikings coach Mark Howard
“Neither team wanted to grab the bull by the horns with discipline and dropped balls which were in costly places for us,” he said.
“The finesse wasn’t there; we’ve still got a lot to work on.”
The performances of teenage halves Alpin and Lachlan Smith pleased the coach.
“It’s the first time either of them have played nine or 10 for first grade so the most pleasing thing was seeing how those boys handled it,” he said.
“I know they would have been really nervous before the game but they took it on and they were outstanding.”
Kempsey had their chances to score more points with good field position in the first half when they had the assistance of the breeze, but the Vikings defence held firm.
“They put a lot of pressure on our line and it was only good defence on our behalf that kept them out,” Howard said.
“They probably should have put on more points and probably went in to half-time ruing the fact they didn’t.
“I was happy that with the amount of possession and field position we gave them to only go in behind by one point wasn’t too bad.”
Usually one of their strengths, the Vikings set pieces were disappointing and Howard admitted they would need to be better in coming weeks.
“I think we only won about 20 per cent of our line outs so we gave them a lot of ball,” he said.
“Our set pieces are usually something we pride ourselves on so that’s something we’ll have to go back and work on.
“To keep them scoreless in the second half was something we spoke about at half-time.
“When we did certain things we looked good, but we know if we want to contest for the grand final we’ll have to improve.”
