Vikings get big wake-up call
The second-half performance of his rugby league team at Naenae Park on Saturday was the stuff of nightmares for Peter Rikiriki.
The Porirua Vikings’ premier coach says his charges ‘‘ran out of steam’’ after halftime, as an excellent Randwick side ran riot to win 54-30. The score was 18-all at the break and Rikiriki says his team was right in the contest.
‘‘We didn’t have the ball much in the first half and did a lot of defending. We stayed with them but then just ran out of puff, missing a lot of tackles and turning over the ball on our second and third tackle.’’
The second half was a procession, with Randwick exploiting weak Vikings defence around the edges. At one stage they scored three consecutive tries in their first set of six from the kickoff.
Rikiriki says there is ‘‘plenty to address’’ at training this week, especially as they have a short turnaround for their Friday night game at Porirua Park against Petone. While they had five regulars missing for the Randwick match and did score 30 points in the loss, much more fitness work and intensity will be called for at training.
‘‘This result was a wake-up call. Better it happened now than further down the track. We just need to pull finger.’’
The result has the Vikings in fourth place on five points, one point behind Wainuiomata and Upper Hutt, and two shy of Randwick.
St George, meanwhile, remain winless at the foot of the table after a 32-16 loss to Wainui. They can take much heart from the result, however, entering the last quarter of the match at 16-all. They take on Upper Hutt this Saturday.