Tight defence pleases new coach Smart

The black-and-yellows were far from their best away to Newick and struggled to get their attack functioning anywhere near as well as they managed for much of last season.

However, they defended brilliantly, with Newick having significant possession for a large majority of the game but being unable to score, even when on the Vikings line on multiple occasions.

The match was called off nearly 20 minutes early following a nasty head injury to a Newick player, just as the Vikings were starting to click together.

Both teams agreed to halt the game due to being unable to move the player, but the Vikings will be a little disappointed not to have been able to continue.

After the match, which ended 7-0 thanks to a converted Nico Ashplant try, new Vikings head coach Ray Smart was very much aware that work needs to be done, but was happy with his sides’ application.

‘Today’s performance was not where it needed to be, we allowed Newick to frustrate us at the breakdown, which provided them too many opportunities to turn over the ball,’ he said.

‘We will work on that as it stifled our attack, but before the injury it looked like we were just starting to get going, which was encouraging.

‘Newick had a large majority of the possession and the fact we kept them out even when they were knocking on our door is excellent.’

• More in Tuesday's Guernsey Press.