Sensational Smith

Royston under-18s 19 – Barnet under-18s 7 A BREATHTAKING solo effort by Adam Smith capped off a good Royston win at home to Barnet. The constant drizzle and a light wind made handling the ball difficult, but Royston played with the elements in the first h

Royston under-18s 19 - Barnet under-18s 7

A BREATHTAKING solo effort by Adam Smith capped off a good Royston win at home to Barnet.

The constant drizzle and a light wind made handling the ball difficult, but Royston played with the elements in the first half and were soon camped in the Barnet half.

Joe Hillman at fly-half used his boot to pin Barnet back and it was not long before several phases of play sucked in the Barnet defence sufficiently for centre James O'Sullivan to dart through a gap and over the line from a ruck close to the Barnet posts.

Hillman converted with aplomb.

The pressure in the first half told again as a loose pass was picked off his toes by winger Andy Smith who rounded his opposite number to score in the corner, but the conversion was missed.

The highlight of the match soon followed when, capping a solid first half display, full-back Adam Smith collected a loose defensive kick in midfield and, against the advice of the touchline experts, ran blind towards the Barnet pack.

He managed to evade all would-be tacklers and culminated an exhilarating solo run by touching down between the posts for Hillman to convert with a drop-kick.

In the second half Barnet pulled a try back, and converted it, before one of their backs did a carbon copy of Smith's first half run.

The player collected a loose clearance and scythed his way through the whole Royston pack but his effort was abruptly halted by a stunning tackle from Smith himself.

Royston managed to keep their line intact until the end of the match to record a win by a convincing but flattering margin.