Tries: Marcus Hunt (3), Tony Whitehead (2), Adam Fitzgerald, Liam Byrne-Stevens, Dan Norton, Liam Wiltshire
Cons : James Clemmence (3), Liam Byrne-Stevens (2), Tony Whitehead, Ollie Stringer, Liam Wiltshire (1 each)

In weather conditions more suited to cricket, and a scoreline redolent of basketball, Vigo welcomed Essex side, Maldon RFC, to Swanswood. Both sides were missing key players, giving new players to catch the eye, none more so than Vigo youngsters Marcus Hunt and Josh Sclaven. New Vigo skipper, Dave Winstone, himself injured, was reasonably happy with the offence , in particular, whilst noting that the new defensive patterns his team have been working on, needs a bit more polish. All in all, a worthwhile exercise just two weeks before the Laegue season begins.
Vigo started strongly, Liam Wilshire snaffling two lines out ‘against the head’, before Vigo opened the scoring through teenager Marcus Hunt. The ageless Dan Couchman had retrieved the ball from a scrum in retreat with his usual dexterity, the ball was whipped wide for Hunt to sidestep through the Maldon defence. James Clemmence converted. Maldon hit back immediately, their tall left wing, Sam Rhodes running a great line to break Vigo’s drift defence. Jack White, terrific in most respects, missed horribly in front of the posts, but Maldon had shown that this was not to be a romp in the sun for Vigo. Vigo were working hard in the scrummage as Maldon continued to press, but looked extremely dangerous on the counter. Liam Wiltshire broke from deep and kicked forward. The bounce favoured Wiltshire who gathered and fed Adam Fitzgerald to score under the posts, Liam Byrne-Stevens adding the extras.
Both sides were ringing the changes in the late summer heat, and another great prospect, Sam Smith, seized the chance to impress, feeding Hunt for his second, Tony Woodhead converting. Maldon , with a young side, look well coached, their recycling of the ball exemplary and a fine bout of recycling and short passes, exhausted Vigo’s defence for Hez Crane to score wide out. White, obviously disdainful of the easy kicks, booted over the conversion from wide out, and then enhanced his reputation with a fine solo try, cruising through a hesitant Vigo defence. Again he missed the easy conversion but he had brought his side back to within touching distance. When Maldon then took the lead, George Taylor finishing off another excellent round of drive and recycle by the Essex side, White kicking a superb conversion, alarm bells began to ring amongst the big crowd revelling in the afternoon heat. Not so Vigo. Coolly, calmly, they retrieved the situation. James Clemmence put up a beautifully executed kick which totally wrong footed the Maldon defence, Tony Whitehead, looking every inch the fine player he was before dreadful injuries threatened his rugby career, joyfully seized upon the ball to score.
Back came Maldon again, and only a superb cover tackle by Liam Byrne-Stevens prevented a try for the visitors, before another lightning break out by Joe Deeney threatened the Maldon line. Unfortunately, as Deeney ran out of gas, huis attempted pass to the impressive Luke Henderson just failed to find the target and Malden were let off the hook. They attempted to clear the ball but only found Marcus Hunt who executed a couple of swift side steps to flummox the Maldon chasers before finding Byrne-Stevens who sprinted 70 meters to score, Clemmence converting. Vigo, full of vim and vigour, confidence growing, attacked again, Hunt’s pace too much for Maldon’s rearguard, firstly setting up Whitehead before scoring himself, Clemmence converting the first, Byrne-Stevens the second. Maldon, wilting under the onslaught, coughed up another try as Adam Fitzgerald attacked strongly, Couchman and Will Castle, another to impress on the day, combined to set up the ever reliable Dan Norton. Ollie Stringer converted to bring the score to 54-24.
Jack White, a really accomplished young stand off, scored a fully deserved try as Maldon refused to lie down, toying with Vigo’s defence before changing direction for the line and skipping through. Sam Langston, taking over the kicking duties from the erratic White, converted beautifully. Again Vigo’s pace was too much for Maldon, Byrne-Stevens ripping through before unselfishly passing to Liam Wiltshire to score, Wiltshire himself adding the conversion.
Perhaps, Vigo thought they had done enough, perhaps Maldon gathered themselves for one last effort, but the Essex boys came back hard in marvellously defiant fashion. Langston with a scything break, set up White, Langston converting before a tiring Vigo defence coughed up the ball all too easily for Dave Webster to score, Langston again converting.
So, there it was, a breathless, highly entertaining match, where Vigo demonstrated their attacking skills and the huge promise of their young side. So many players caught the eye it would be invidious to pick out any one, but certainly a hat-trick by Marcus Hunt and some outstanding work by Tony Whitehead were among the highlights. Special mention , too, for the young referee, James Farmer, who had an outstanding match
Maldon, with old friend, Dan Doherty in their ranks, were bettered at times but never bowed and their coach, Paul Langston found much to please. ‘’our youngsters, such as George Taylorand Sid Noade, and also Brendan Bignell ,were especially praiseworthy and although we lost a bit of concentration and cohesion at times, we fought back well at the end to score some good tries’’
Tony Whitehead and Jack White were named respectively MoM for their teams.

MOG’s view: With the pace all over the pitch, this could be an interesting season. I think there could well be some high scoring and entertaining matches this season. It might be a tad different when the weather is less tropical, but until then the crowd will have plenty to enthuse about , I am sure. This team is young, very promising. Interesting times.