Match Report
By Andy Grant

Saturday 4th October 2025 - 3pm

North Walsham Vikings 1 XV - 52
V
Amersham and Chiltern 1XV - 14
(HT 28 - 0 )

Vikings Victorious as weakened Chilts succumb on the road

Hedegaard - Vikings (Hey Ho) - ancient records from the caves of North Walsham
‘In the land of the North where the wind blows cold
There’s the blood of a Viking in the young and the old
Out on distant shores making echoes in time
We’ll be here forever, we’ll never die’
Hey ho!, Hey ho!

We travelled to a land far, far away using a new coach company, Bucks Travel, driven su-perbly by Imran, a brand-new A&C supporter. This was always going to be a testing trip for several reasons. Would the boys cope with a toiletless coach after a few tinnies to either celebrate or commiserate? With 6 regulars missing, would be able to give the Vikings a bloody nose or even a wee scare?. Alas, the Vikings relished their home advantage and powered their way to a fine victory consisting of 8 tries to 2.

Honestly, and yet again, despite the long and winding bus ride, A&C started off well and maintained decent momentum. With a decent-sized crowd having applauded their home heroes onto the pitch, there was a sense of ‘ this could be a decent match’. For the first 20 minutes, A&C had chances, some great breaks resulting in much tackling from the hard-working North Walsham defence.

As soon as NW made the gains into the Chiltern half, it was inevitable that the tries would come. The Chiltern defence line was breached too frequently and with relative ease. A&C were 28 points down with nothing on the scoreboard.

We were not without opportunities as Max Morphey especially took on the burly forwards with some other supporting runs from Jordan Scott (Back Row), MacKenzie South, and James Morrison. Kaz Olayinka at No8 alongside Sammy Sinclair ensured points on the board early in the second half with a couple of excellent conversions from Harry Stevens. In the second half, there was at least a 15-minute period when the chatter behind the NW posts suggested that they let us in. Sadly, they hadn’t, and having gone from a position of pushing for a 3rd and 4th bonus point try, North Walsham just went on to score a few more.

North Walsham will undoubtedly be up there at the end. We will be ready and better pre-pared for the return match in our very own Ash Grove.

Next Week - Ash Grove (thank Goodness) V Letchworth Garden City and potentially the might of ex-Chilt Tom Fawssett. 8th V 3rd. Last year LGC won 43-16 at home and 19-33 at Ash Grove. No easy games although we expect to be at full strength. Come along and give us hope! C u there.

A&C 1XV - 1. Charlie Swerling 2. Dave Cole. 3. Max Morphey. 4. Kieran Booth. 5. Harry Bradshaw. 6. Will Price. 7. Josh Finch 8. Jordan Scott 9. Ben Harris. 10 . Alex Bower 11. James Morrison. 12. Harry Stevens. 13. Sammy Sinclair14. MacKenzie South. 15. Reiss Walker— Subs 16. Kazeem Olayinka 17. Will Drewett 18. Noah Jarvis