It was a narrow defeat for North Walsham Vikings rugby club on a visit to the home of the Henly Hawks, going down 42-40. 

The Hawks’ kick off was long. Charlie Fethney collected skillfully, play drove up to the Hawks’ 10m line. From a scrum, the Vikings advanced, moving the ball smoothly from side to side of the field.

The ball came out to Jordan Mustard who, beating several players, scored in the corner in the 2nd minute. From the restart the Vikings secured a line out 10m from the Hawks’ line, won the ball, and drove for Ryan Oakes to score. In 6 minutes the Vikings were 0-12 up.

The next score, on 23 minutes, went to Ethan Holmwood. Tapping a 5 metre penalty, rumbling towards the line, he executed a sublime dummy to score, 0-19. The Vikings scrum was conceding penalties.

Pummelling a 5-metre scrum the Hawks secured a penalty try 7-19. The 28th minute saw Mustard's second try.

Just before half time the Vikings got a yellow card, subsequently the halftime score remained 14-26. The first score of the second half came from the Hawks on 54 minutes. They broke down the left hand side to score in the corner, 21-26. Jim Riley hit back on 64 minutes, 21-33.

North Norfolk News: A scene from the North Walsham Vikings game against Henley Hawks - Picture: Steve KarpaA scene from the North Walsham Vikings game against Henley Hawks - Picture: Steve Karpa (Image: Steve Karpa)

The Vikings now came under pressure. On 66 minutes the Vikings received a second yellow card. This presaged a bad Vikings’ 10 minutes. While down to 14 men the Vikings conceded three Hawks’ tries, doubling their score to 42-33.

Vikings’ coach Ryan Oakes said: “It’s disappointing to get a good lead then lose. We know we need discipline and to play the full 80 minutes for success in this league. Two league points on the road is some little compensation.”

"The Vikings remain next to bottom of the league on 33 points. However in April they have to play the two teams above them who are on 34 and 38 points."