Royston U-17 10 Stevenage 16 ROYSTON took the field in their new strip in front of a good crowd at the Heath on Sunday. Despite outscoring Stevenage two tries to one Royston could not quite finish their season with a win. The hosts had the better of th

Royston U-17 10

Stevenage 16

ROYSTON took the field in their new strip in front of a good crowd at the Heath on Sunday.

Despite outscoring Stevenage two tries to one Royston could not quite finish their season with a win.

The hosts had the better of the early exchanges, generating good possession from a solid scrum anchored by Boreham and Ponting and good line-out work from flanker Morris.

Clean ball spun down the line and outside centre Michael Church was in at the corner, to open the scoring for the home side.

Towards the end of the first half the visitors came back with a period of forward dominance, and following the award of a penalty inside the home 22 a quick tap caught Royston napping with a try under the posts.

After weathering some early pressure the home side took the lead with a superb solo try from Church.

Collecting a loose ball on the halfway line Church shrugged of the first tacklers then carved through the defence to score in the corner, giving Church his fourth try in two matches.

The loss of Will Phillips through a shoulder injury required a re-jigged pack and Royston lost some of their forward drive in the second half.

Royston were pressured into conceding penalties in kickable positions, and the visitors came back level at 10-10, before taking the lead then extending it to 10-16.

The home side came back hard, determined to finish on a win. Scoring opportunities were created, with good breaks from Jack Hoyle, recently returned from injury, and full back Chris Mills.

But small mistakes meant the home side could not sustain enough pressure and Stevenage held on to the score for the win.

The second half of the season saw greater fitness and consistency and some good performances resulted, and the team should go into the summer break in good heart.

Stevenage U-16 47

Royston 3

THE penultimate game of the season had Royston battling in vain against Stevenage.

Despite the scoreline, Royston continually tried to take the game to the opposition but were thwarted by a strong Stevenage pack.

Without either of their regular lineout jumpers and against the formidable opposition scrum Royston saw very little of the ball.

Playing uphill in the first half Royston camped in the opposition half for the first period of play - an unusual development for the usually slow starting team.

However as soon as the opposition got hold of the ball the pattern of the game was established with the strong running Stevenage pack giving the Royston tackling a severe examination.

Following the first Stevenage try Royston went back onto the attack, forcing a penalty.

Unfortunately for Royston's kicker, Matt Andrews, the ball came back off a post and Stevenage collected the ball and moved it the length of the pitch to score.

The game continued with Stevenage scoring at regular intervals and only some heroic defence forcing handling errors keeping the score down.

Andrews notched Royston's points with another penalty.

Other notable performances included Lewis Watson going through the pain barrier for the team, Joe Hillman's never-say-die attitude and work-rate, Adam Smith, Joe Cullen and Michael Griffith's tackling.

However, the man-of-the-match award went to Tim Smith for an immaculate display at full back - handling cleanly, breaking and kicking well and tackling everything that came his way.