Douglas’ second team emerged from the shadows of their championship-winning first team to take silverware of their own on Saturday - clinching the Shimmin Wilson Manx Bowl with a thrilling 20-12 victory over underdogs Western Vikings/Castletown.
The pre-match favourites didn’t have it all their own way.
Mike van Wyk poached an early try for Vikings and, with Gary Stephenson’s conversion, they led 7-0 for much of the first half.
However, when Stephenson was sent to the sin-bin for interfering with the ball on the ground, Douglas took advantage of the numerical difference and hit back with a try from young centre Christian Brew to leave it 7-5 at half time.
Douglas cut loose in the second half and tries from youngsters Ethan Moore and Peter Bradley soon pushed them into a 15-7 lead.
When veteran prop Martin Higgins barrelled over to make it 20-12 with 10 minutes to go, Douglas looked like they had wrapped it up.
Vikings had other ideas and with Higgins in the sin bin, they forced their way back into the game after Ed Alderson and Neil Cowley combined well for a try to make it 20-12.
However, Vikings were unable to make any further headway in the closing stages and were ultimately beaten by the clock and a consummate performance by Douglas’ man of the match Seb Jeanneau.
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