North Walsham Vikings beat Rochford Hundred 31-28

Before the match the largest crowd of the season observed a minute’s silence for past Vikings’ chairman and club stalwart for many years Tony Marcantonio who passed away recently. He will be missed by all.

Starting well, in the second minute Vikings’ Holmwood turned over Rochford ball and the Vikings swept towards the line.

However Rochford drove the Vikings back into their own 22 from where M Hodgson launched a stunning attack with a glorious long pass. Smith collected and broke free. Caught in Rochford’s 22 he offloaded to Dudley who scored. 10 minutes, 7-0.

Soon Knight touched down in the middle of a rolling maul, 12-0. On 19 minutes, Knight went over the line like a juggernaut, 17-0. Soon after, Rochford conceded a penalty try, 24-0 in 23 minutes.

A scene from North Walsham Vikings game against Rochford Hundred (Image: Hywel Jones)

Five minutes into the second half a clean midfield break got Rochford’s Johnson a try, 24-21. Halfway through the second half the Rochford forwards drove over. This took Rochford into the lead for the first time 24-28. 

The remainder of the match comprised unsuccessful Vikings pressure trying to deny Rochford the losing bonus point.

After the game, Vikings’ director of rugby James Knight said: “I am proud of the team. We got five league points, moved up a place in the league, and took another step towards safety.”

He named Ethan Sikorski as player of the match.

The result left an interesting situation in National League 2 East where 13th and 14th are relegated.

Westcliff, in 14th with 1 point, are down. 13th Rochford 38 points, 12th Sevenoaks 39 points, and 11th Vikings 42 points are in the fight to stay up. On the last weekend of the season Sevenoaks play Westcliff, Rochford play 9th place Tunbridge Juddians and the Vikings play 10th place Canterbury.