Sat 7 Mar 2026
Half time in the reverse fixture the 99s were 31-0 up. 40 minutes later Dave Maguire converted a try which took them out of losing bonus point range. 39 points conceded in what must have been a demoralising second half.
Fair to say they were probably up for this one. And, based on their 75-15 demolition of (at the time) 3rd placed Rugby St Andrews in January, probably pretty confident. Nice for them to be able to call upon one or two players who had been playing Levels 4 or 5 earlier in the season as well (let’s no go on about it shall we?).
And they started well. Or did we start poorly? Bit of both? Yer bit of both. 21-5 after 20 minutes. So first try, 99s had established good territory through a strong exit. They hit up off the line out then spun it out to their 10. He spotted a dog leg, raced clear and executed the 2 on 1 to put veteran 13 in for a stroll. Second try was, to be fair, a good first phase score. The ball was transferred to the centre channel quickly and a short pop to their looping 10 created the overlap. This put their 15 (Syston 1s, sorry) into space to finish.
The good news was that it wouldn’t be 31-0. It was a good recovery from Sileby who forced a knock on in the 99s 22. A training park move created the opportunity for Wing Harry Greenbury to give his corresponding outside back Callum Swift a 1 on 1 with a Jamaican International 7s player (I’ll stop now). Swift did what was required. What followed was probably the most frustrating phase of the game, where 99s were gifted another score. Firstly, Sileby were unable to exit. Then with the ball turned over poor defence in the midfield allowed Lions 12 to bust through two tackles. 21-5 after 20.
What made that phase even more frustrating was that Sileby would then score the next three to go into at halftime only 2 points down. And none of those scores were given, they were on the back of some of the best rugby the Vikings had put out this season. The game plan was ticking, with the accumulating pressure resulting in the home side infringing. This built more pressure until the try line was breached. First Full Back Jon Griffiths squeezed into the corner. Then having again marched up to the 99s 5m line Second Row George Jones took a tip from Hooker Ash Rideout out, crashed into two defenders and then deftly offloaded back to Rideout to dot down under the sticks. Finally, Number 8 Adam Mayes found space on the short side after a driving maul had come down.
With 99s having converted a penalty, the half time score was 24-22 to the home side.
The second half was a much scratchier affair. Both sides had shored up their defence and inaccuracies in attack blunted try scoring opportunities. At 60 minutes Hooker Rideout took the cop of a team warning and went to the bin, and that’s when the spaces did emerge for 99s to take advantage of. First their 10 found a gap off a loop play to glide in under the sticks. Then following an exit Lions replacement Full Back put a kick in behind which bounced kindly for the out half again to score (turns out they were offside but was behind ref at the time so shrug).
After so much effort to get back into the game this felt like a hammer blow. However, the final score of the game would go to the Vikings. Early in the game it had been about creating space for the Wingers, with Swift and Greenbury finding soft shoulders and line breaks on a regular basis. For the last time it was more brute force. Eventually it was replacement Prop Dave Tate who would get the final five points at short range. With the score 38-27 there was time to secure a second losing bonus point, however that was snatched away by good 99s defence in the middle third.
It was a disappointing result and, with the fixtures ahead, probably meant that the Vikings title dreams were over. However still plenty to play for in the league, starting with Aylestone Athletic at Platts.
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