Royston II 10 Shelford Development 24 ROYSTON combined played host to Shelford Development in near perfect conditions on Saturday. Straight from the off Royston came out firing on all cylinders and dominated the Shelford pack, and after some Barbarian sty

Royston II 10 Shelford Development 24

ROYSTON combined played host to Shelford Development in near perfect conditions on Saturday.

Straight from the off Royston came out firing on all cylinders and dominated the Shelford pack, and after some Barbarian style backline moves a gap appeared for Ronnie Barker to snipe through and run in a 25m try.

After realizing he was on kicking duty, late call up, Rob Turner stepped up to the mark to scuff the first of many of his kicks for goal.

Shelford came back hard and after only five minutes play opened up and they ran in a try under the posts and added a conversion to lead 7-5.

Royston were again camped in the Shelford half following the kick off, dominating lineouts and relentlessly hitting rucks and mauls, when after some brilliant play saw Billy Richardson power through two tackles to flop over the line from one yard out to open his scoring account this season.

The hosts were unable to put the game to bed though and just before the break Shelford went over again to take a half time lead of 12-10.

An inspiring team talk from captain Steve Patmore left Royston chomping at the bit to get stuck in again in the second half, and with Rab Bisset on for Jerry Cottrell in the second row the pack was strengthened.

After only 10 minutes Barker was forced to leave the field with a leg injury and was replaced by Charlie Brookes and with no other natural scrumhalf the big hitting veteran Paul Rabbets took on the challenge.

Unfortunately Royston didn't have it all there own way and after some excellent defensive work Shelford forced there way over the line again to make it 19-10.

Another replacement for Royston brought on the young Joe Hillman in place of Simon Rees but Royston were unable to break down the Shelford defence and with 10 minutes to go Shelford again crossed the whitewash to leave the final score 24-10.

After the game captain Steve Patmore said: "We played brilliantly today and our defensive work was outstanding, I'm proud of all my warriors and look forward to doing battle again next week."

The vets' game against Shelford last night (Thursday) was postponed.

Next up for the first team is a home game against Mill Hill this Saturday while the seconds play away to Biggleswade seconds.