Burton Vets, Saturday 3^rd November, Away, Lost 18-10

Royce 2^nd XV took the short trip down the A38 to play Burton Vets with a large squad boosted by the cancellation of the Vets game against Belper. 

Royces handed debuts to 5 new faces, an encouraging sign of the added depth in both squads this season.

The opening exchanges saw both packs slugging in out, Burton generally having the slight advantage in territory but some strong tactical kicking and dominant scrummaging saw Royces make their way up the field on occasion.  Burton were clearly looking to bring their powerful full back into play on a regular basis but fortunately he liked to run straight at his man and committed tackling always saw him stopped, with both Tom King and Andy Najman offing solid resistance.  Royces almost broke out down the short side but the Burton winger managed to get in the way of the try-scoring pass.

Burton opened the scoring after a missed communication in defence allowed their centre to crash over from a set piece.  The conversion was missed.

Royces hit back almost immediately.  A double hit on a Burton centre just outside the RR 22 saw a turnover forced and the ball was quickly spun out to the left wing.  A set of quality interpassing between forwards and backs took Royces to within yards of the Burton line.  At the ensuing breakdown there was a huge overlap on the right hand side, the ball went through the hands swiftly and debutant Max Sellers crossed unopposed for a great team try.  The conversion was narrowly wide.

The rest of the half remained scoreless with both sides looking to move the ball around and some good rugby being played.

Royces made a multitude of changes in the second half, bringing on many older heads from the vets.

The second half continued along the same lines as the first, however the changes had negated one of the key Rolls-Royce advantage areas - the scrum.  Burton scored again with their winger crossing in the corner, this was unconverted but soon added to with a penalty.  Royces were able to bring the game back to within 3 through an unconverted Tom King try, set up by a powerful Eddie Willers run.

The rest of the game was an even contest, with both sides threatening to break out and add to the scores.  In the end it was Burton who managed to close the game out with a final unconverted try, meaning the final score was 18-10 to the hosts.

Royces showed great promise in a team that had so many new faces. Tom King was narrowly beaten to the man of the match award by Rich Johnston – reward for his tireless workrate to hit every breakdown and commitment to making the first up tackles.

Thanks must go to Burton for supporting us in getting all our subs out for a game and their general hospitality both during and after a game played in the best spirit.