UNDER 12s – versus Royston
Hitchin
A 19 - Royston 7 [Soft Break]Tries: Alex Evens 2, Callum Dickson-Earle 1. Conversions: Matt Maylin 2 [Soft Break]There were some
early basic mistakes from both sides although Hitchin started to taken
the upper hand when the forwards remembered that rucking and mauling is not
supposed to be modelled on some kind of Morris Dance and if you
hit the back of the bundle with your body at the right angle and with
aggression its funny what a difference it makes.
Craig, Henry and Zac all helped us make
good yards committing a number of Royston players to the bundle before Euan showed great skill
to tidy up some scrappy ball allowing Alex to prove he can sprint almost
as fast as he can swim running half the length of the pitch to score,
and straight from the kick off we scored again with Callum catching the restart
and sprinting straight to the line.
From this point we
were really now playing with confidence and the third try showed off a
number of areas where improvements have been made. The scrum was again
excellent pushing Royston off their own put in and this time, rather
than just passing the ball down the line for the sake of it Matt, Euan & Rory all
committed their opposing number before off loading leaving Alex with a
free run for the line. An excellent try
All credit to Royston
as they produced an excellent second half with a deserved try although
we weren't helped by a strange lack of discipline leading to us giving
away a number of crazy penalties which just gave away possession and
territory.
Our tackling though
was much improved with Royston struggling to make any real ground with
ball in hand and the line out is starting to function with Joe in
particular tacking 2 fantastic catches. Overall a pleasing performance
putting the memories of Cambridge partly to rest
Hitchin
B 7 - Royston 5 [Soft Break]Tries: Simon Mastalwrczyk. Conversions : Kieran Farrer [Soft Break]With Royston putting
out basically the same team this was a really good win.
Early on though the
signs didn’t look good as we didn’t make touch with a couple of
penalties and Royston seemed to be breaking tackles at will and they
were soon in the lead although crucially the conversion was missed.
Slowly though we got
into the game with a couple of good breaks from Kieran putting us on the
front foot and you could see the confidence grow through the team.
Michael and Ally making good progress in the forwards and James, Jordan & Fergus showing
good skills in the backs.
A Royston kick though
caused all sorts of chaos as the odd shaped ball took on a mind of its
own with a bouncy bouncy hot potato streak that left poor Richard
at full back almost spinning himself into the ground as he tried to grab
hold of it only just managing dive on in time as it crossed the try
line. Phew! A similar tactic in the second half saw Richard pick the
ball up first time and return it with interest, the ghost was buried
much to his dad's relief !
The second half saw
the crowd come to life with even some cheering and laughter from our
brace of hung-over maidens who up to that point had been surprisingly
quiet. This seemed to spur the team on and a penalty close to the
Royston line saw Simon drive over for his first (of many!) Hitchin try
much to his obvious delight.
Kieran nearly fell
fowl of too much crossbar challenge practice but the conversion cleared
the bar by about an inch which was good enough to put us in the lead.
Royston tried
manfully to score again as the game came to a close but the enthusiasm
of the lead saw some great tacking to keep them at bay.
Scores 
League Tables