Vigo suffered yet another defeat on Friday night under the lights at Sidcup, but again played with much spirit, and arguably, the scoreline did not reflect the effort put in by the team. Sidcup’s pack were indeed given a thorough going over by Vigo’s scrummage, at times being marched back at a rate of knots. Unfortunately, Sidcup’s young and lively back division just had more than enough gas to overwhelm Vigo’s back division, heroically though Shay Keelam especially played.
Vigo started well, rolling forward through their pack, recycling and driving, testing the home side’s defence. Sidcup held well, the experienced players refusing to fold under Vigo’s pressure. Naturally, Vigo could not sustain their drive and as soon as they lost the ball in contact, Sidcup were quick to counter. Flanker Charlie Mason, who was to prove a handful all night, blasted through Vigo’s defence, only being stopped at the expense of a penalty for offside. Sidcup opted for a kick to touch, but Vigo stole the lineout – in fact, their lines out were also a source of satisfaction for beleaguered coach, Terry Papworth – and were able to relieve the mini-siege. But Vigo conceded another penalty soon afterwards and this time Sidcup went for goal. The ball drifted wide but Vigo made a hash of dealing with the kick, and Sidcup quickly turned the ball over, popped the ball along the line where the fearsome David Fawole was lingering in midfield, crashing over for the try.
Vigo were then hit with a double blow as Sam Smith and Jake French were yellow carded for interference at a ruck, and a deliberate knock on within the space of 2 minutes. Sidcup needed no further encouragement and attacked Vigo’s 13 men. Vigo were in danger of falling apart, especially as every decision seemed to be going against them. Quick fire tries by Fowell again and the extremely rapid Connor McDonald ensured that Sidcup’s numerical advantage was not wasted, and but for a magnificent try saving tackle by Liam Wiltshire, things might have got uglier. Apparently McDonald had scored 4 tries in his last match for Sidcup 1st XV before being injured and it was easy to see why with his extreme pace.
Vigo managed to hold on until they returned to their full complement but disaster struck when, with time running out, they conceded a rather soft try when open side flanker, the rather diminutive Joe Marron, picked up the ball from the back of a retreating scrum and simply waltzed through a supine Vigo defence to score under the posts. Enrico Rolfo added the extras for a convincing 22-0 lead at half time.
It hadn’t been that bad a half for Vigo. Their pack were dominant in the tight, the lines out were fine, they competed well at the break down where Dom Mickelburgh was in his usual Stakhanovite mode, but Vigo just did not have the guile and pace out wide to be able to pierce a decent Sidcup defence. They had their moments, but the home side seemed to have all the answers. Perhaps Vigo were guilty of kicking away too much ball, which allowed Sidcup to mount dangerous counter attacks, but Sidcup’s back row were very good at pressurising, giving Vigo little room or scope to broaden their ambitions.
When Joss Watson smashed over soon after the restart, Rolfo converting, Vigo looked in danger of being swamped. Vigo continued to heap indignities on the Sidcup scrum, even without the fearsome Will James, off the pitch for treatment. The ageless Darren Cox, Sam Smith and Dan Norton proving more than a handful for their opponents. When James returned then the Sidcup scrum retreated even faster. But all these heroics were of little avail, and a superb attack by Sidcup involving excellent pop passing resulted in Liam Rankin crashing over. According to the rather pleasant Sidcup supporters, Mr. Rankin is the daddy of the side at 45 years old, but as their anecdotes were probably in need of fact-checking all night, I might be doing a disservice to Mr. Rankin. One offering that he is related to the creator of Inspector Rebus could be discountenanced, I’m sure.
Anyway, back to the action.
Vigo were beaten but whether they would fold or fight was soon apparent as they roared back at their tormentors. The likes of Nick McPherson and Kieran Hall were putting in some mighty thumps, whilst Shay Keelam was, seemingly, everywhere. In fact, Dave Fawole, who had been off the pitch for a bit of R&R, returned to the fray, only to be absolutely levelled by an Exocet tackle by Hall, leaving him in a crumpled heap. Vigo had their second wind and came hard at their hosts. A tackle on Harry Pattison, which was so late as to warrant a visit by the Silent Witness team, seemed to act as a catalyst as Vigo mounted a ferocious assault. They might have been enraged that the tackle had not earned a yellow, considering they had received two yellows for certainly less dangerous offences. Anyway, the resulting penalty was thumped into touch by Tony Whitehead and Vigo won the line out and attacked. Sidcup fought hard to stem the wave of attacks but Vigo dropped the ball in the drive and Sidcup thought they had a let off. Not so, as Vigo demolished the scrum and Dom Mickelburgh – captain on the night – emerged from the carnage to score a deserved try. Whitehead converted.
This encouraged Vigo, and back they came. Sidcup still had some decent attacks but Vigo were fired up. They snuffed out – at last – the Sidcup raids, and worked their way downfield. Suddenly, Sidcup were not so assured. They began to make mistakes, allowing Vigo to build pressure. A series of penalties in the ‘red zone’, allowed Vigo to attack and swarm Sidcup’s line. Will James was brilliantly stopped over the line by Sidcup and nudged the ball forward. Scrum to Sidcup, but once again Vigo destroyed the scrum and this time it was new signing Bobby Morris who crashed over for the try. George Rawlings, injured skipper, observed that ‘’we only need four converted tries now’’. Yes George, and I believe in Father Christmas and the Tooth fairy – sorry, kids.
Of course, Sidcup were all rather taken back by this impertinence and came back strongly. Vigo might have used up all their energy levels in this show of defiance which had seemed to gain grudging respect from my new friends in the Sidcup Massive. Thus, a late penalty led to one last raid by the home side, moving the ball sweetly along the line for Ben Stokes to apply the coup de grace. (Yes, Ben Stokes, but not the esteemed England cricket captain, notwithstanding Sidcup’s resident wits attempt at persuading me otherwise.)
So, a thoroughly entertaining way to spend a Friday night. Much more entertaining than watching East Enders or Corry streets increasingly lurid and incredible story lines, but, alas, the same dismal ending.
Vigo Team: H.Pattison; S.Tye (rep; B.Carter (40’), S.Keelam, J.French, L.Pitchell; N.McPherson, T.Whitehead; W.James (rep: D.Norton 20’), S.Smith, D.Cox (rep: W.James 50’); L.Wiltshire, B.Howe; K.Hall, D.Mickelburgh (capt.); B.Morris.

Referee: Matt Taylor (Kent)
Scorers: Sidcup: Tries: Fawole (16’, 25’), McDonald (30’), Marron (40’), Watson (42’), Rankin (60’), Stokes (80’). Cons: Rolfo (2). Vigo : tries ; Mickelburgh (65’), Morris (73’). Cons: Whitehead (1)
Vigo MoM: Shay Keelam.

Dom Mickelburgh (Captain) It was a tough game against good opposition. The penalty count was against us from the start so we found it difficult to gain a foothold in the game until the second half, where we showed how we can play. So, we will need to hit the ground running next week against Westcombe Park.

MOG’s View. Sidcup deserved the win, without a doubt, but perhaps even they might acknowledge that the score line possibly flattered them a little. Vigo put in a shift, especially up front, but Sidcup had the edge that training with a 1st XV that is several Leagues above Vigo gives them an edge.
In fact, meeting the various 2nd teams of the ‘big’ clubs leaves me with a rather split opinion. Is it better if you want to improve to play against these players? Or is it dangerous that there should be such players coming up against our team, which because of the injury crisis, field several players with very little experience? Former coach, Andy Forrester, now at Westcombe Park, explained it to me. ‘’We have 25 contracted players in the 1st XV. There are 20 in a match day squad, so 5 will be ‘spare’. You cannot expect them not to play at all, therefore they have to play for the 2nd XV. They get rotated in and out depending on circumstances. Plus we have a couple of players ‘on loan’ from Blackheath who need game time.’’ So this is the same for all the 2nd teams. Now, once, they start to move through the League , gain promotion, then the League will be left to our traditional opponents, the likes of Old G’s, New Ash Green, Sittingbourne and so forth. That is going to take a couple of years, obviously.
Personally, I think there should have been a separate League for all of the 2nd XV’s of the ‘bigger’ clubs, but, I stress, that is my opinion and does not reflect Vigo RFC’s view. It might mean that that League would be ‘ring-fenced’, perhaps, but that is a matter for argument by the experts. After all, I am but a mere and lowly recorder of events that affect my Club.
Now I’ve got that off my chest, we can get back to important issues, like why is dyslexia so hard to spell? Why do round pizzas come in square boxes? What is a male ladybird called?