Vagabonds Rugby Club picked up their second win of the season in Counties Three ADM Lancashire/Cheshire with a 24-10 defeat of Fleetwood at Ballafletcher on Saturday.

The opening minutes didn‘t quite go Vagas’ way but they more than made up for it with two tries in the final 10 to claim the match and a rare try bonus point.

The game was only three minutes old when the wheels came off the Vagas wagon. Wing Regan Williams was caught by Fleetwood centre Chris Jones who put in a huge hit.

The ball was dislodged in the process and Fleetwood’s fleet-footed wing Mitch Corse scooped it up and raced 40 metres to touch down under the posts. Ricky Newton added the conversion and Fleetwood were 7-0 up before they’d really broken sweat.

The next 35 minutes was basically a midfield scrum fest. Neither side really created a scoring opportunity and, with cold hands making handling awkward, there was lots of dropped ball and lots of scrum restarts.

Vagas appeared to have the ascendency at scrum time and in the penultimate play of the first half it delivered for them.

A scrum around 10 metres from the Fleetwood line gave them a solid platform and, with the visitors expecting a drive, Tom Gascoyne launched himself from the base and powered over the line to score.

The conversion was missed and, when the teams turned around at half-time, Fleetwood had a narrow 7-5 lead.

Three minutes into the second half, Vagas’ wing Tom Neeson set off down the left wing and he cut infield into the Fleetwood 22. The defence went off their feet and conceded a penalty.

Vagas opted for the scrum but without success, but they did earn a second penalty which skipper Dan Bonwick tapped quickly and stormed over from close range to put Vagas 10-7 in front.

The lead didn’t last long though. Three minutes later it was Vagas’ turn to cough up a penalty and Newton sent it high and handsome through the uprights to tie the game at 10-10.

On 17 minutes Newton missed a second penalty chance which would have put his side in front.

The minutes then steadily ticked by and after the half-hour mark was passed the murmur on the sideline was of a possible draw or a piece of Gascoyne magic.

With seven to go, it was the latter which lit up the game as Vagas had earned themselves a scrum in coffin corner and applied full pressure at the set piece.

It was reset twice following Fleetwood infringements but on the third occasion there was no mistake. Gascoyne controlled the ball well at eight while his pack gave him an armchair ride to the line.

Bonwick converted from out wide to give Vagas a 17-10 lead with less than seven minutes remaining.

Try as they might, Fleetwood couldn’t crack the defence and with two left on the clock Cam Findlay broke clear for Vagas on the right wing.

He was felled with a high tackle and Bonwick once again tapped a quick penalty and raced in under the posts to claim the bonus point as well as the game. He converted his own try to bring down the curtain in style.

DAVE CHRISTIAN