Rugby League

NORTH PETHERTON VIKINGS 46 SOUTH DORSET GIANTS 26

SOUTH Dorset Giants can consider themselves very unlucky after losing out in the semi-final of the South West Cup.

Arriving with a healthy squad of 16, they found their opponents had only 12. After some heated negotiations with the North Petherton Vikings and the referee, the Giants were ordered to play with 12-a-side, causing a great deal of disruption prior to kick-off.

Once the match started, the Vikings were three tries up inside the first 15 minutes, exploiting the space created on the right-hand side of the defence by the absence of influential second row Joe Gibson, who was kicking his heels on the substitutes’ bench.

Undeterred, the Giants started to put some phases of play together, resulting in 16-year-old Lewis Allan going over in the corner.

With Gibson now on the pitch, he made his presence felt immediately with a barnstorming run from halfway for a try on the half-hour.

Constant mistakes made life difficult for the Giants and allowed the Vikings to score at regular intervals.

A constant thorn in the visitors’ side was the Vikings’ international hooker, who scored five tries in total.

The spirit within the Giants this season has been outstanding and despite the Vikings again capitalising on their mistakes, opening up a seemingly unassailable lead, the Giants fought back with tries from player-coach Anthony Cowburn and a further effort from Gibson, pulling them to within 10 points.

A further mistake cost the Giants another try, taking the game away from the Dorset side. But the best try of the day was saved until last when the Giants’ other precocious teenage talent, Luke Savage, caught the ball from a Giants’ kick-off and weaved his way through the home defence to score under the posts.

Manager Dave Allan said: “The players are gutted. We didn’t play to anything like our potential which was incredibly frustrating.

“The palaver before the game was unnecessary and disrupted our preparations.

“But I don’t think we can lay all the blame there, we contributed to our downfall with the lack of ball retention early in the game, even though there were some baffling refereeing decisions.

“An encouraging aspect from the day was the silence in the changing rooms after the game. It goes to prove how much it meant to the players and how disappointed they were.

“We have gone on to the next stage in our development that is contesting and winning trophies.

“With two league games and an exhibition match left this season, I am asking all players to commit to the team and finish the year on a high.”