Vagabonds Hornets beat Ramsey B 33-29 in the Ravenscroft Manx Plate to guarantee themselves a top-two finish and a home semi-final.

Their opponents and the line-up of the other semi-final won’t be clear until the result of the Ramsey B versus Western Vikings game – scheduled for April 23 – is known.

First half tries from Danny Howard, Jared May and Ross Quayle, plus two Darragh Pilkington conversions, saw Ramsey leading 19-12 at the half-time interval at Ballafletcher on Saturday.

Vagas struck back early in the second half and three unanswered tries gave them a 26-19 lead with 10 to play.

Jake Richmond pulled one back for Ramsey before Matt Rockwell went over for Vagas to seal the win. Danny Howard bagged his second of the match late in the game to ensure Ramsey picked up two bonus points.

At QEII School in Peel there was pace and power from the start with Nick Collins and John Whitehouse both doing the heavy lifting for Nomads.

But the Vikings defence held firm and when Toby Poole-Wilson counter-attacked Vikings were almost in but the final pass was dropped.

This gave Nomads a scrummage to clear their lines and they did that and more when Tony Quinn found space on the left wing and raced in from 70 metres.

Mark Young converted the try and gave Nomads a 7-0 lead.

The Nomads try gave Vikings the impetus they needed and they were soon on the board themselves.

Morgan Armstrong-Paton broke from inside his own half, threw a dummy to Sam Tarpey outside him and then pinned his ears back for the line. Ed Knight’s conversion came back off a post which left Nomads two ahead at 7-5.

Six minutes later Vikings took the lead. Tarpey had set up ruck ball on halfway and the ball found Harry Raven on the charge. He burst through the Nomads cover to score.

Nomads countered but shortly after the half-hour they coughed one up for Vikings.

A floated pass looking for pace man Quinn was picked off by Vikings wing Zac Novak and, with Nomads committed to attack, there was no defensive cover and he strolled in to score his first for Vikings on his debut.

Ed Knight converted and Vikings were 17-7 in front.

As half-time approached, Vikings bagged their fourth try and secured the bonus point. Poole-Wilson got the touchdown through a pile of bodies in the right-hand corner. The conversion was missed and the teams turned around with Vikings 22-7 ahead.

Within two minutes of the restart Vikings extended their lead. The ball squirted out the side of a Nomads scrum and Kyle Martin reacted quickest. He scooped up the ball and darted in for the score.

Another 10 minutes in and it was Vikings again. Harry Goodwin crashed in from a tap penalty after Olly Creasey had carried to within a yard or two of the line. Kyle Martin added the extras to make it 34-7.

From the restart Raven returned the kick-off with interest, racing into space on the right before dotting down under the posts. He converted his own try for a 41-7 lead.

Nomads finally got some luck with a little over 10 minutes to play. This time it was Vikings’ turn to give a gift. Another floated pass was picked off by Nomads’ wing Josh Smith and, similar to the earlier interception, he had a clean run in for his try. Young added the conversion to leave the lead at 41-14.

Three tries in the closing eight minutes gave the scoreboard a coat of gloss that wasn’t quite representative of the game: Nomads were tiring and Vikings had some fresh legs.

Charlie Henthorn nipped through a gap to score, Harry Hewson charged in from 40 metres and Raven added his third with the final play.

Rugby results (April 9)

North One West

Kendal p-p Douglas

Ravenscroft Manx Plate

Vagabonds Hornets 33-29 Ramsey B

Western Vikings 59-14

Emerging Nomads