Match Preview

Royston will be looking to maintain their good form in 2019 when they travel to play local rivals Verulamians on Saturday, after picking up 7 points from a possible 10 so far in January. Although Verulamians are going through a particularly challenging patch at the moment, Royston should be more than wary of their capabilities on the day after Verulamians left the Heath with a full 5 points in October. That day Royston were particularly poor, and Verulamians simply wanted it more, but hopefully this will be rectified tomorrow.

In other news, we likely bid farewell to our resident Leicestershire born Aussie Jonno Whittingham, as he returns "home" to NZ on the day of our next fixture against London Welsh. Jonno has been a loyal servant of Royston Rugby for many years now, mostly as a back row forward but has deputized suitably at hooker on numerous occasions also, especially this season. He once formed one of the three pillars of the fabled Back Row of Dreams (quote Damo Fouracres, 2012-13 season), consisting of the South African brawn of Matthew Muirhead, the Welsh Wizardry of Lee Gilbert, and of course, the Kiwi guile/cheating of Whittingham himself. With all three selected for the weekend, there is one last opportunity to see this unit in full* flow.

Haere haumaru Jonno, and for the sake of your fellow Crows, please throw the ball straight on Saturday!

*They're quite old now, but they still try their best!