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The Vikings will face old rivals Gloucester this weekend as they christen Bridgwater & Albion RFC as their new home ground. The great facilities are hoped to magnify the enjoyment of rugby league within Somerset and players, coaching staff and committee alike are oozing excitement as the Vikings press on.

Somerset Vikings v Gloucester Warriors – This weekend, K.O. 1430.

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After the excitement of last weeks opening match victory it was down to earth against a pacy Bristol Sonics outfit. At the start the Vikings probably showed the hosts too much respect. The Sonics attacked again and again down the left flank and after twenty minutes led by 20 points to nil with four tries, two of which were converted by Will Garnett.
Somerset began to settle and completed successive sets of six with no reward before Joe Bussell powered his way over the line to register the first points for the visitors. Dan Hinton added the extras. The Vikings fightback continued with one of the tries of the game with Luis Smith and wingman George Giles combining well enabling Giles to score under the posts and give Hinton the opportunity to earn two more points.

Craig Williams had a try disallowed for a marginal forward pass but the Sonics, realising that they had a game on their hands, hit back strongly. Tries either side of half time stretched their lead to 28 – 12 before Williams from close range and Nick Francis scored tries for the Somerset Vikings to bring them back within range at 28 – 22.
A pair of tries midway through the second half scored by Wayne Cockram and James Bennett for Bristol effectively killed off the Vikings who still managed one further score through guest player James Coleman. Bristol dominated the closing stages and completed the scoring with two more tries from Cockram and Conor Bant.
The final result was a deserved win for the home side by 48 points to 26.

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Somerset Vikings opened their 2012 rugby league campaign with a convincing victory over a plucky Swindon team in the first ever encounter between the two sides. The home side scored in the opening minutes through debutant Neil Jackson but his effort was cancelled out almost at once by Rich McKenzie. At this stage a close game was in prospect and both sides pressed forward with conviction.

Following a jinking run from Craig Williams to put the Vikings ahead again the home side moved up a gear and, in a remarkable spell, scored another five tries before half time. The best effort being a classic threequarter move from left to right finished in the corner by Andy Webber. With the powerful Vikings forwards dominating the middle of the pitch space repeatedly opened up on the flanks for their pacy backs to exploit.

Any hopes that the visitors had of a come back were dashed on the restart when Jackson completed his hat trick. Injured in the process Jackson suffered a suspected fractured shoulder bone and retired to hospital. His enforced departure did not slow down the rate of scoring. As the visitors tired the Somerset Vikings piled on the pressure with more tries enabling Williams to complete his own hat trick. Dan Hinton was successful with seven conversions of the 14 tries ran in by the hosts. Webber, making two from the wingman, Paul Mortensen (2), Josh Bray, Joe Bussell, Glen Cooper, and Dave Edwards completed the scoring.

All the Vikings players had a good match but the non stop contribution of the lively Nick Francis in both defence and attack was outstanding.

For Swindon Ben Bridson scored a late consolation try converted by Jason Chamberlain.

The Somerset Vikings will face tougher challenges this season but it looks as if they may have a squad to compete at this level.

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With the long awaited 2012 season almost here, club chair Clair Salter addresses some of the burning player issues in her 2012 Pre season letter, including:

Training
The opposition
Sponsorship
and expenses

Preseason letter to players 2012 (1)

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Young Viking, Luis Smith, takes his skills to the next level as he is selected to represent the Scotland u19′s squad.

Though small in stature, Luis punches well above his weight with great skill, speed, courage and passion for the game.

The entire Vikings community congratulate Luis for his success which is direct result of his hard work.

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Somerset Vikings Director of Rugby, Chris Richards, received the coveted South West Coach of the year award.

Chris is said to be delighted after receiving very little in the way of silverware during his extreeeeeeeemmmly long playing career.

The award is testament to the time and effort Chris puts in to developing coaches and players of all ages and abilities.

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A great turn out… here are just a few of the photos from that night.

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Chair, Claire Salter and Director of rugby, Chris Richards stormed the air waves recently to promote Rugby League within the South West.

Interesting listening (especially Chris during the quiz) and great for spreading the word. I have the audio file in both M4A and MP3 and though I can not as yet embed it on here I will send it to anyone that requests it.

email: craig.williams1@hotmail.co.uk

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The Vikings are officially linked with the current Super League Champions, Leeds Rhinos. The Super League Trophy will be on view at the Smedegaard offices and photo opportunities will be available for all alongside the Super League trophy, Smedegaard, the Leeds Rhinos and the Somerset Vikings.

Smedegaard plan to have a press information pack available on the day which explains some very interesting news regarding Smedegaards (and indeed Bridgwater’s/ Somerset) involvement with the Rugby League World Cup in 2013.

The Super league trophy will be on display at the Smedegaard offices from 4pm Monday the 28th November.

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