Old Priorians 27 Royston 10 WITH Old Priorions unbeaten in the league Royston knew this was going to be a challenging fixture. From the start the hosts showed they were a well drilled team setting up clean ball in the rucks and mauls allowing the backs to

Old Priorians 27 Royston 10

WITH Old Priorions unbeaten in the league Royston knew this was going to be a challenging fixture.

From the start the hosts showed they were a well drilled team setting up clean ball in the rucks and mauls allowing the backs to run their moves and although Royston's defence was good the pressure was too much and they conceded.

With the wind on there side Royston tried to kick for territory, and this paid off when captain Shaun McDermott charged down a clearance kick which he gathered to score.

Priorians' back row started to make some decisive breaks from the scrum and on one such occasion their number eight picked the ball from the back of the scrum at the 40 metre line and ran round Royston's back row to slide in for the line.

Although there was a call for the ball being held up, the referee gave the try.

Before half time Priorians scored again, this time with their attack coming from the wing as a quick ball gave a winger lots of space which allowed for an easy run over the line.

In the second half Royston played into the win and knew they had tighten up their own game.

The forwards started to set up phases of play but small errors meant they could not maintain the pressure.

The game became a battle of attrition with both sides putting in big tackles and good defensive performances and eventually the deadlock was broke when a quick penalty, taken by Rob Turner, caught the hosts' defence off guard and he sliced through a gap to score.

This spurred Royston on and their forwards continued to push and make good ground.

However a turn over and a break through from the Priorians centre forced a high tackle from McDermott.

The captain was penalised with a yellow card and with only eight minutes of the match remaining he would not return to the field.

A man to the good, the Priorians capitalised and some quick thinking saw a chip over the top of the Royston defence and, with a lucky bounce, the Priorians' centre grabbed the ball and tumbled over to score again to finish off the game.