The end result probably didn’t match the occasion.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The lights shined brightly over Royal Park for only the second-ever rugby union night clash in Launceston.
But amid the willingness of the North’s two clubs, Launceston and the AMC Vikings, to promote the game to curious onlookers flooding past the city on the usual football-free Friday night, the Vikings only had reasons to celebrate.
In what was a superbly polished display, the Australian Maritime University side proved pure size is no match for technique, execution and football smarts in a 66-7 win.
“We tried to play it out wide – they were big forwards and we just tried to keep away from them, and move them around,” Vikings coach Ray Burgess said.
“I knew their backline were young and inexperienced and we kept (the ball) away from them and did very well.”
The Vikings passes stuck; the Bees hadn’t. The Vikings also dominated territory all night and proved clearly fitter as the match wore on.
The winners put on 40 points before Bees scored any – and then they scored another five tries just for good measure.
Burgess just smiled and nodded when asked was Friday night the side’s best game this year. “But there’s also a lot of rivalry between the two of us and we just got up for this game,” he said.
Launceston playing coach Nic Sotiriou found it hard to disagree.
“It was the first time they’ve had a full strength team and we almost had our full strength team,” he said.
“Some of those guys have played state (rugby); some have even played for other countries.”
Launceston had individual moments of brilliance, but they came from their teenage recruits, who had to be given clearance by Tasmanian Rugby Union officials at the start of the season to play.
The underdogs only scoring chance for the first 50 minutes came from a pick-and-drive that put the Bees in strong field position for a pushover try close to the line.
But the Vikings’ first try after the opening three minutes of the Adam Nicholson Trophy encounter proved indicative of the game.
They led 12-0 inside 10 minutes and stretched the margin out to 26 points by half-time on the back of good passes, a fast-running backline and switches of play.
Vikings conservatively crossed the line just twice inside the first 20 minutes of the second half. But it was during the last 20 that the students reasserted their dominance. Scoring off broken play, the Vikings proved their most dangerous.
They ran in three tries in seven minutes – two of them starting from behind their half – and crossed for a 10th and last try in the final minute of the game.
But to its credit, the hapless Bees refused to go away.
“That’s the way we play – that’s us, we don’t give up until the end, even if we’re losing like that,” Sotiriou said.
“Even that week when we lost 98-nil to the very last whistle, we kept fighting.”
That’s the way we play – that’s us, we don’t give up until the end, even if we’re losing like that
- Launceston coach Nic Sotiriou