The Vikings led 24-0 after 20 minutes and then it was like Groundhog Day as they registered an 18-point victory over their cross-town rivals.

It was the second-straight week they had leaked almost 30 points, but coach Dave Henry didn’t seem too concerned about their defence with the semi-finals only two weeks away.

“It’s hard to maintain that level of intensity,” Henry said.

“We’re like everyone, we get tired and as fit as we are, (those fast starts) takes it out of you.

“You can’t beat everyone to zip; Pirates are a decent side, they’ll play top four footy this year.”

Henry admitted the Vikings constantly worked on starting games fast and was pleased to see their hard work again rewarded.

He didn’t feel like his team were falling into bad habits by “cruising” in games which could create a false sense of security ahead of the semi-finals.

“That might seem like it happens but it’s not a plan, other teams are entitled to play footy too,” the coach said.

“Last week we played Grafton and they’re leading the comp; we’re not playing no-one, they’re decent footy teams we’re playing.”

Vikings have a final chance to tighten up their defence when they clash with Marlins next weekend and Henry admitted 28 points was “a little more than I’d have liked.”

“Some of that comes down to little one on one misses,” he said.

“We’re trying to do two things here – win footy games and try and manage our injured players as best we can.

“Some of that means some blokes have to play longer minutes than we’d like them to and they get tired so we do leak some points.

“I’d love to be able to keep teams under 20 but sometimes they are entitled to score points.”

Injuries to Mark Minter, Jeremy Segol, Lyndon Gale and Harley Gore took some of the shine off the victory.

Pirates coach Nigel Hurlston admitted the defeat summed up their 2018 campaign.

“That’s been the story of our season; we’ve played catch-up rugby every week,” he said.

“It seemed the Vikings didn’t get out of third gear and it was like if they wanted to go again they could.”

Hurlston was frustrated his side showed glimpses of what they were capable of – but couldn’t do it consistently.

“In patches we were very good, but in other patches we’d give the ball away very cheaply,” he said.

“A team like Grafton, Snappers or the Vikings … they’re top three and they’ll punish you.”

The Pirates coach knew his team were capable of more, but asked them to not rest on their laurels.

“Be proud of what you’ve done, but don’t be happy with it,” he said.

“If you’re happy with it, you’re accepting defeat and there’s always room for improvement, because if there’s not we’d have won the game.”