Valiant Crows go down fighting

Royston once again turned to youth for their trip to London to face a strong OMTs outfit, bolstering their squad with several talented under 18 players as they continued to try and play their expansive game plan, one that had born much fruit the week before against Finchley. And on a dry day, Royston attempted to throw the ball wide as much as possible, but once again came up against a bulkier pack that made scrum time a challenge, finding themselves 10-3 down on the scoreboard midway through the first half, with the penalty knocked over by Will Dacey. Royston continued to battle hard for the rest of the half but without much gain, OMTs eventually able to stretch their lead to 18-3 by the half time whistle.

At oranges, Royston knew they were still in the game if they could get the ball wide to their danger runners, taking on the talented OMTs backline toe to toe. However, OMTs had other ideas and quickly took their lead out to 28-3 before Royston responded in kind, pulling the score back to 28-15 with two rapid scores, one converted by Dacey. As Royston continued to force things, handling errors were proving more and more costly, with the OMT fullback having a particularly fruitful day, and before they knew it, Royston were 47-15 down and facing a tough end to the game. It is at this point, to their credit, Royston refused to throw in the towel, knowing that at the very least a try bonus point was within their grasp if they could just execute their play to a better standard, and this they did with aplomb. Royston dominated the closing stages of the game, registering a further three tries without reply, two converted by Dacey. All in all, tries were scored by Euan Rees (x2), Chris Ellis, Will Cottrell and captain Ben Ritsema.

Next up is a home game against Verulamians at the Heath, and even though they currently reside bottom of the league without a point, will still provide a very stern challenge to Royston, and one that shouldn’t be taken lightly.