Royston 3 Mill Hill 6 ROYSTON paid the penalty for not making the most of good possession in a closely fought game with Mill Hill at the Heath on Saturday. From the off it was clear that the referee was going to be strict around the break down as both tea

Royston 3 Mill Hill 6

ROYSTON paid the penalty for not making the most of good possession in a closely fought game with Mill Hill at the Heath on Saturday.

From the off it was clear that the referee was going to be strict around the break down as both teams gave away a number of penalties, but the home team enjoyed the majority of the early possession and used the boot of Dave Marvell to gain some good attacking positions.

Although the Crows' opposition out-sized them up front, the technique of the props and the power in the second row meant that Royston's scrum won plenty of the ball.

In the loose the pack worked hard and when necessary man-of-the-match Scott Easy crashed the ball up-field running at Mill Hill's number ten.

Although Royston had the majority of possession it was the visiting team that started the scoring when their full back kicked a lengthy penalty to give them a three point lead.

Things then started to go wrong for Mill Hill when two players got sin binned in quick succession for infringements at the rucks, but they managed to hold on until half time with a three point lead despite having only 11 men on the pitch.

Royston were unable to make the most of the extra men at the beginning of the second half and soon Mill Hill were back to their full 15.

The game remained even although both teams did have chances to get tries, but solid tackling keep the score sheet low.

The visitors secured themselves another three points mid-way through the second half and soon after Royston replied with a penalty from the boot of Andy Smith to reduce the gap to three.

Royston then had one of their men sent to the sin bin for ten minutes after arguing with the referee, but despite continuing to put pressure on the Mill Hill defence the home team were unable to level the scores.