It was a quiet start to the New Year for local rugby clubs with almost everyone opting to take the weekend off.

Castletown and Western Vikings, however, decided to play a friendly match, with the aim of giving the Town players some extra game time and to possibly spark some life into Western Vikings.

Town came out 12-0 winners on the day.

Vikings, a once thriving club, has seen a steady fall off in playing numbers over the past few years and has had to join forces with Castletown to ensure the remaining players actually get to play.

A break in the regular fixtures was an ideal opportunity to invite some former players to don their boots for a friendly fixture and possibly stimulate some interest to revive Vikings as a club in its own right.

The Westerners had a shaky start and, with a number of players who had been out of the game for several years, it was no surprise when Town took the lead with a Ben Dalglish try. Alex Gibson soon added another which Gary Stephenson converted to put Town 12-0 up after half an hour.

For the remainder of the game the Vikings defence held firm and a period of pressure in the closing stages almost gave them the try they deserved for their efforts.