SURE-sponsored Vagabonds began their 2012 home campaign in South Lancashire/Cheshire Division Two by completing a bonus-point win over a spirited Dukinfield side at Ballafletcher on Saturday.
From the very first kick-off Vagas were awarded a penalty which was duly kicked by Jonathan Beckley to put the home side 3-0 in front with less than a minute gone.
The resulting Dukinfield kick-off did not go 10 metres and, when Vagabonds opted for a scrum on the halfway line, the Manx side’s number eight Chris Vorster fed centre Tom Gascoyne who beat his opposite man to race 50 metres and score under the posts. The extras were added by Beckley which put Vagas 10-0 ahead with only five minutes of the game gone.
Dukinfield began to wake up and play direct rugby which resulted in Vagas conceeding a series of penalties. This eventually allowed Dukinfield to kick their first points of the game. At 10-3 Vagas began to throw the ball around and make inroads into the Dukinfield 22 but credit is due to the visiting defence which held strong.
As Vagas threw wave after wave of attack at the Greater Manchester outfit, the visiting side eventually conceeding a penalty which Beckley again kicked. Vagabonds continued to look for an elusive second try but with seconds left of the first half Dukinfield forced a turnover in their own 22 and ran the length of the pitch to score a converted try on the stroke of half-time.
Dukinfield were obviously spurred on by their resolute defending and their first-half try against the run of play as they started the second half the livelier of the two sides.
When Vagas second row Mark Howarth was unfortunately sin-binned Dukinfield used their one-man advantage by opting for a scrum from a penalty on the Vagas’ five-metre line.
From this the visiting scrum-half scurried over. The try was converted and Vagas, despite their domination, were 17-13 down.
This gave Vagas some incentive and they began to play with real purpose. Big ball carries from Akki Van Den Berg, Adam Matheson and Francisco ‘Patchi’ Iturria gave the Vagas’ backline space to create opportunities.
From such an opportunity Ryan Windell stepped through the visitors’ defence to score between the posts.
The converted try put Vagabonds back in the lead and when the hosts regained Howarth from the sin bin they increased the pressure on Dukinfield and another try followed shortly after his reintroduction.
Leigh Kennaugh rolled back the years to go on a dancing, jinking 50-metre run down the touchline which resulted in a try for Vorster. Further tries from Van Den Berg and Beckley gave the home side a comfortable 37-17 win.
The stand out performance of the game was Patchi who was given a well-deserved man of the match award although 17 points from Beckley meant he ran the Uruguayan a close second.
Howarth also showed he is a handful on his return from a six-week injury lay off and certainly gave Dukinfield plenty to think about in the tight and loose.
Overall a decent performance by Vagas, certainly on an individual level, and no game next week will allow Vagabonds to train hard and gain cohesion before they travel away to a difficult Ruskin Park outfit.