Huntingdon Stags 15 Vipers 30 THE Stags were up against serious competition at the weekend when they played host to the Vipers. The Vipers are fresh from victories against Banbury and Leicester Forest but the game started well for the home side. Pressur

Huntingdon Stags 15 Vipers 30

THE Stags were up against serious competition at the weekend when they played host to the Vipers.

The Vipers are fresh from victories against Banbury and Leicester Forest but the game started well for the home side.

Pressure on the visitors resulted in an offside penalty which was duly converted by Wayne Bradley to give Stags an early lead.

However, this served only to spur the Vipers into action and they responded minutes later with an unconverted try.

The Stags defence held well from the kick off, despite relentless pressure from the Vipers inside the 10 meter line, and a good steal by Selim Sheik gave the Stags the chance to clear their line with a down field kick. However, Vipers came back and scored three points with a drop goal.

Stags kept attacking and some good pressure resulted in Sheik bursting through the Vipers line again, but Stags were unable to capitalise on this and the attack stalled. Vipers counter attacked and managed to peel off the back of a scrum and score another try.

Stags first try of the match followed, after Neil Walsh intercepted a Vipers pass and placed a kick down field for Darren Harris to chase. Harris beat the opposition to the ball, scoring the try which was then converted by Bradley.

Not to be outdone, the Vipers broke free of some loose play and succeeded in scoring a converted try to give a scoreline of Stags 10 - Vipers 20 at half time.

The second half began well for Stags, with Sheik's pass to John Durrant allowing him to score a try although the conversion was missed.

The Stags could have closed the gap further on the on-form Vipers but the opportunity passed them by with a missed penalty.

The Vipers then started to pile on the pressure and a good line out saw the ball played across the field for a Vipers try, which went unconverted.

Although the score line was now Stags 15 - Vipers 25, the game was still winnable.

However, despite Stags managing to clear their line after conceding a scrum at the five meter point, Vipers attacked again and an excellent rolling maul saw them score the final try of the match, taking the final score to Stags 15 - Vipers 30.

Coach Cameron Glanvill was pleased with the team performance, despite the result. He is now looking forward to improving and winning the next two matches.

nThe next match is away to Towcestrians.

ESCAPE: Stags' Charlie Cook tries to break free as the home side lost to the Vipers 30-15.