Conditions were far from perfect at Ballafletcher when Vagabonds faced PDMS Southern Nomads in the Manx Cup on Thursday evening.

Rain came down the pitch in waves which made conditions tricky underfoot and ball handling very difficult.

Vagas mastered the weather quicker though and an 80-minute forward effort gave them a 26-7 victory as their Cup campaign got off to a successful start.

Jonny Beckley used the tailwind well in the opening exchanges and kept Nomads pinned inside their own 22. With only eight minutes gone, Vagas opened the scoring.

A five-metre scrum saw Nomads under some pressure and, as the Vagabonds train started rolling, Nomads’ scrum collapsed and referee Gareth Hinge awarded a penalty try to put Vagas 7-0 ahead.

Despite having ascendency in the set scrum, Vagas found the Nomads defence tough to crack. Scrum half George Collister was tackling like a demon and any spilled ball was quickly hoofed downfield.

In the 20th minute though, the defence cracked again when another five-metre scrum gave Vagas the chance they were looking for. The pack fired up yet again and Nomads couldn’t prevent the inevitable pushover try that was scored by skipper James Clarke. Beckley converted for a 14-0 lead.

Just after the half hour, Nomads struck back. Furo Davies picked up the ball inside his own half and an optimist in the crowd shouted ’Score it Furo’ . This drew a snort of derision from the clubhouse terrace but this quickly turned to disbelief as he did just that.

Davies accelerated to full pace and beat four men as he arced his way under the Vagabonds posts for the try. Mark Young converted to leave it 14-7 at half-time.

Nomads had the tailwind in the second half and soon had their chances. The initial attack yielded a penalty and they turned down an easy three points in favour of a lineout, but the gamble didn’t pay off and, once Vagas cleared the danger, Nomads didn’t really get another sniff.

The soggy second half remained scoreless until the final 10 minutes when the Vagas pack got close to the line and bagged two late tries to close the game out.

Tom Gascoyne dived in for the first of these, converted by Beckley, and Rob Martin showed his trademark one-yard flop over for the second.

DAVE CHRISTIAN