Tough going for Vikings

This was always going to be a tough one for North Walsham Vikings.

Second-placed Barnes arrived brimming with confidence to face a home team scrapping hard to get out of the relegation zone. That confidence was displayed in everything the visitors did and was a crucial difference between the sides.

Nevertheless there were many positives for the Vikings. 15-0 down with a quarter of the game gone, a heavy defeat looked a possibility but they stuck to the task and Barnes were never able to relax. Indeed, while the better team won, two tries were debatable.

Two tries in two minutes rocked the Vikings. Straight after Loose's departure, there was a series of five metre line-outs, culminating in Josh Clements scoring from close range. Barnes then doubled their score straight from the kick-off when Gareth Davies rounded off a long-range passing movement.

The Vikings were struggling to get into the game and their woes increased six minutes later when

scrum-half Ross Blake scored after a well-executed move following a 20m line-out.

But suddenly the tide turned. Barnes failed to cope with a high-kick and Peter Clifford and Davies-Horne were up quickly to hack the ball on and take play close to Barnes' line.

Moments later Richie Howlett nearly burst through and then Clifford evaded three would-be tacklers on a strong run but the move broke down close to the line. Eventually Vikings got their reward on the half hour with a Treglown penalty.

The Vikings started the second half full of optimism but suffered a big setback with a disputed try.

Then the game was effectively ended by a flurry of cards and the game meandered to a close.

North Walsham U15 beat Norwich 14-7 in the Norfolk Cup semi-final with the result in doubt right up to the final minutes. Tries came from David Micklethwaite (Tom Mee converting), George Young (Toby Fletcher) Ben Place (Fletcher).