The UC Vikings have defeated the Melbourne Rising 42-16 in a clinical performance at Viking Park in Canberra. The victory was the Vikings sixth in a row and kept the side undefeated and up the top of the NRC Ladder.
The forwards dominated the game for the Vikings, winning a number of scrum penalties and controlling the game with a dominant maul.
Aidan Toua and Ita Vaea were the standouts for the home side, with Vaea taking home the man of the match.
The first 20 minutes of the game where as tight as can be, with neither side able to gain any momentum.
15 minutes before halftime the Vikings finally broke the deadlock with a trademark rolling maul try to captain Jarrad Butler. Christian Lealiifano added the extras to make it 8-0 Vikings.
Only a couple of minutes later the Rising hit back with Jack Debreczeni selling a dummy and breaking a tackle to go over and score the Rising’s first try. He converted the try himself to level the scores up at 8-8.
With ten minutes to play in the second half the Vikings received a huge boost when Rising second rower Steve Cummins was sent to the bin for repeated infringements.
The Vikings made their extra man in the scrum count as they were awarded a penalty try with five minutes to go in the half. Lealiifano converted to make it 16-8.
It looked like that was how it would stay going into the half-time break until an individual piece of counter attacking brilliance from Aidan Toua led to a contender for try of the season in the corner for the fullback. Lealiifano missed his first kick of the game and the score was 21-8 at halftime.
Five minutes after the break the Rising were back in it when Dom Shipperley going over after some nice ball movement from the Melbourne side. Debreczeni made no mistake with the kick to make it 21-16.
The Vikings set piece continued to look dominant and after another penalty from a scrum the Vikings kicked to the corner. From the ensuing lineout the Vikings managed to score from another rolling maul through Ita Vaea to make it 26-16.
An already difficult task got made harder for the Rising when Cruize Ah Nau was sent to the bin for repeated scrum infringements with 15 minutes to go.
Just a couple of minutes later the Vikings scored again after a crisp ball from Joe Powell put Francis Fainifo over under the posts, Lealiifano converted to make it 34-16.
Just after the kick off the Rising were down to 13 men when Jack Debreczeni was sent off for cynical play in the 22.
The Vikings capitalised immediately with Francis Fainifo scoring his second of the day in the corner. Lealiifano converted to make it 42-16 to the Vikings and that’s how the game finished.
The Vikings will next take on the also undefeated Brisbane City in a top of the table blockbuster at Viking Park next week, with the Horan-Little shield on the line.
UC Vikings 42 (pen try F Fainifo 2 J Butler A Toua I Vaea tries C Leali'ifano 4 goals) bt Melbourne Rising 16 (J Debreczeni D Shipperley tries J Debreczeni 2 goals) at Viking Park, Canberra.
Source: UC Vikings
