Townsend impresses for juniors

ON Sunday Royston under-nines visited local rivals Shelford and played three hard matches against their hosts and a visiting team from West Norfolk. The first match, against Shelford, started at a frantic pace with both teams struggling to gain the upper hand. After an early scare, Royston worked the ball upfield and from an attacking scrum send Jack Norcross crashing over for the first score. The second half followed the same pattern and strong defence dominated. However, in the dying moments Shelford managed to strip the ball from Royston and release their winger to level the score at 5-5. Royston continued their good form into the second match against a strong and physical West Norfolk side. After getting the better of the earlier exchanges, Royston conceded the first try against the run of play. Not to be outdone Royston responded from the restart and worked the ball to Sam Copeland who burrowed over from short range and level the score. In the second half Royston began to dominate and control the match and camped in the opposition half. The breakthrough finally came when Oliver Townsend took a short pass and weaved his way through the wrong- footed defence and score to seal a well-earned 10-5 win. The final match was against the well drilled Shelford. This time Royston started slowly and soon came under pressure from the hosts, who controlled for long periods. After five minutes Shelford broke the deadlock and despite strong tackling from Oliver Fraser worked the ball into space for the opening score. Royston regrouped and soon levelled through Sam Copeland who received the ball with three defenders to beat but bulldozed over to score. The second half was evenly matched, with both teams cancelling out each other. The stalemate was finally broken as Oliver Townsend pounced on a scrappy Shelford pass to score in the final moments, and secure a 10-5 victory.