First XV skipper says team confident of getting back to winning ways

ROYSTON Rugby Club First XV captain Damien Fouracres says his team are eager to get back to winning ways ahead of their match with Herts/Middlesex 2 basement side London French on Saturday.

The Crows haven’t played since suffering a surprise 17-5 defeat to second-bottom Ickenham on January 28, but with a number of players returning from injury for this weekend’s trip to the capital, confidence is high that the team can earn a similar result to when the teams met back in October when Royston triumphed 26-7.

“We haven’t played for a while so the lads will be glad to get back playing,” Fouracres told the Royston Crow. “We’ve had a few injuries lately – including myself – but we’ve got a few boys coming back so we’re confident of getting the win. They are stronger at home than they are away – as are most teams in this league – but we’re hopeful of beating them.”

Royston currently sit in sixth place out of 11 teams in the league, 12 points behind fifth-placed Kilburn Cosmos and 16 points above the relegation zone. And according to Fouracres, the difference in quality between teams at the top and bottom is more than it should be. “It’s a really strange league,” he said. “Harrow got kicked out the league four divisions above ours last season and it’s not surprising they are top. Uxbridge and Old Mercahnt Taylors are also very strong and should go up. It just seems our league is full of teams that are either in free-fall, or have maybe had a bit of investment and are on the way up.”

Fouracres also admitted that Royston are at a disadvantage to the sides based in and around London – which is most of the 10 other teams – because they have a larger and richer catchment area from which to recruit players.

“We’ve had a few new players join up, but we’ve got a very small squad so whenever we suffer injuries it hits us really hard,” he added. “Because of where we are [Royston], a lot of the good young players that are coming through get snapped up by strong clubs in our area like Letchworth. So we rely a lot on people who live locally which can be difficult.”

Fouracres also feels the young squad that are currently together can continue to improve and hopefully achieve promotion sooner rather than later. He added: “Promotion is always talked about at the beginning of the season, but we always seem to start well and fade a little bit as the season goes on when injuries and everything else take their toll. However we’ve got a pretty young squad so if we can keep playing together you never know.”