HAVING got their season off to a winning start by beating Sutton and Epsom, North Walsham will be looking for a repeat performance when Jersey are the visitors to Scottow this weekend.

HAVING got their season off to a winning start by beating Sutton and Epsom, North Walsham will be looking for a repeat performance when Jersey are the visitors to Scottow this weekend.

Hotly tipped in the shake-up for promotion, the Channel Islanders suffered what for many was a surprise defeat at Bracknell and will obviously be fired up to get their season going.

The Raiders, who suffered a loss at the hands of Sutton and Epsom, travel the

short distance to Holt for a friendly while the Warriors kick-start their season,

and their defence of their Woodfordes

Merit Table crown, entertaining West Norfolk seconds.

Last Sunday saw the start of the youth and mini section for 2009-10, with old and new players from six to 19 signing up.

One or two age groups are a bit light on numbers, particularly the U16s, and they will welcome new recruits. Anyone interested in trying the game or re-starting should turn up at Scottow on Sunday, 10.30.

Walsham 22, Sutton & Epsom 15

INtheir opening fixture Walsham certainly did not disappoint, with a first-half performance that saw the Vikings dominating every aspect of play and running in three excellently-executed tries.

S&E who, against the run of play, opened the scoring with a try on four minutes after a chip ahead was successfully pursued and put away by winger Arran Warner. The try went unconverted.

From then until the half-time whistle it was Walsham's game. Walsham's first try went to outside centre Bruce van Poortvliet, who drew his man to open a gap in the Sutton defences after 18 minutes.

Touched down close to the posts, the try was deftly converted by Justin Loveridge. Four minutes later the ball popped out from a ruck and second row Chris Kent grabbed it from out of thin air and powered through the Sutton defence to touch down under the posts, for Loveridge to add two points.

In the final 10 minutes of the first half, the Scottow crowd were entertained by a fine display of handling and speed by Walsham's backs, who demonstrated how well they have gelled as a unit in training.

From a line-out deep in the Walsham half, inside centre Adie Ball carried the ball to the half way line before shipping it to Adam Couzens who neatly side-stepped the Sutton winger before flipping it outside for van Poortvliet to touch down for his second try.

Loveridge's conversion attempt went just wide so it was 19-5 at half-time.

In the second half Sutton gained momentum and Walsham lost their shape and, with Mark McCall yellow-carded, the visitors moved the ball swiftly along the backs for an unconverted try.

Walsham regained some of their composure and gained a penalty in front of the posts on 62 minutes for a Sutton forward not rolling away.

Vikings missed the chance for a fourth try bonus point, with Sutton scoring a last-minute unconverted try.

Walsham Raiders 5, Sutton and Epsom II 29

Raiders were soon on the back foot and 17 points adrift. It took all of 20 minutes for them to get their act together and they began to dominate but a couple of poor decisions cost the possible scores and they were prone to lose possession too easily.

A quick break by Will Quinn caught the Sutton defence flat-footed and his well- timed pass to Ross Nicholson saw the flanker blast over the line.

For most of the second half the game was closely balanced but in the final 10 minutes they again suffered from a loss of concentration and Sutton crossed for two more tries.