Kempsey Cannonballs defeat Hastings Valley Vikings in Mid North Coast Rugby northern division clash

Gale scored a hat-trick inside 40 minutes to cast a shadow on the Vikings' ability to defend their Mid North Coast Rugby northern division premiership.

Kempsey co-coach Jared Fuller couldn't help but be chuffed about the way his team gradually wore an at-times 13-man Vikings outfit down in the second half.

They benefited from space in the second stanza following the first-half red card to Vikings number eight Danny Poiva and second-half yellow card to Josh Crilley.

"I wouldn't be able to quote the exact year, but it's been quite a long time since we've won a game of first grade [at Oxley Oval] so for some of us older guys it's a relief as much as anything," Fuller said.

He was especially satisfied about the performance of his fullback in the second half although he had a lengthy support cast.

"Corey got three [tries] in the end and was electric when we were able to create space. In the first half we weren't able to create space for him but he really came to life in the second half," Fuller said.

"Jeremy Winn was phenomenal at breakaway; he worked his socks off the entire game and did a fantastic job."

Captain Carl Thurgood and second-rower Steve Keir were also tireless in the forwards and did a lot of hard work across the entire match.

While the Cannonballs were "shaky" with their execution of plays at times Fuller was confident they would iron out those issues in coming weeks.

"It's only our second game for the season so there's always going to be some mistakes," he said.

"We had a fair bit of the ball in the first half, but didn't always take the right option when we had the opportunities.

"There's a bit more maturity in our side this year. At nil-all at halftime we didn't drop our bundle, but stuck with it and started to get a bit more space in the second half."

The Vikings' third defeat in a row - and second by a lopsided margin - means their bye next weekend couldn't have come at a better time.

In the last two weeks they've conceded 114 points and scored just seven, but captain Charlie Freeman remained stoic in his belief all is not already lost for 2023.

"We came into the season with no trial matches so it's been a bit disjointed," he said.

"We just need to draw a line under it and have the week off, work really hard at training and start the season again."

Freeman felt the Vikings had fatigued in the second half with the extra amount of work they had to do following the first-half send off of Poiva after the scores were locked at nil-all at the break.

"I don't know if it was fatigue that crept in or our effort fell away a bit and they exploited us and we couldn't get back into it," he said.

"The first half we were holding it together so I don't want to blame it just on running out of puff. I think mentally we didn't stay at the level we needed to."

The Vikings skipper refused to push the panic button, but there's no doubting in a 14-round competition that time is running out.

"We've been a really successful club for a lot of years so the success is there, we just need to dig in and go back to what we know," he said.

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