Dronfield, Saturday 15^th December, Home, Won 41-0

Royces returned to league action and welcomed Dronfield to Victory Road (eventually!), looking to end 2007 in style in their last competitive fixture. As is the norm, the team contained several changes from the side victorious in the National Junior Vase the previous week. The game also saw Duncan Myres take to the field looking as comfortable as a penguin in a microwave - in what can only be described as his Grandmas shower cap.

From the kick off Royces were soon in the ascendancy and set up camp in the oppositions 22, but poor ball retention saw Dronfield clear their lines on a couple of occasions.  Following another drive into the 22 the ball was recycled to the backs and ‘Danny Fanny Rubber Legs’ (DFRL) Sanderson bundled his way over under the posts in a style that can only be described as something akin to a new born foal, conversion successful, 7-0. A combination of good defence and poor ball retention kept Royces off the scoreboard for 15 minutes, with Royces missing a drop goal and penalty. Royces soon scored their second try with McLaughlin launching a cross field kick from left to right for DFRL (this time stood on the wing) to gather and score in the corner. Conversion missed, 12-0. Soon after the restart a Dronfield prop was shown a yellow card for ‘misplacing’ his boot.  Royces pushed hard to make the advantage count and from a penalty Royces earned themselves a 5-metre lineout. Royces gathered and changed the point of attack allowing Malcolm Lee to fall over in the corner. Conversion missed, half time 17-0.

Dronfield started the second half much better than the first using their big runners well to make inroads into the Royces defence. Royces defended well and in truth never looked like conceding. Royces scored their fourth try following an excellent break by Tom King up the right and good support play by DFRL, allowing Baker to finish from 0.5 yards, conversion missed 22-0. DFRL gathered a misplaced touch finder to score Royces fifth try of the afternoon (and his hat trick, the absence of the jug has been noted), sympathetically he touched down under the posts, conversion successful, 29-0. Good hands up the right hand side saw Tom King score his 3^rd try in his third appearance, conversion successful 36-0.  Still hungry for further points a clearance kick was charged down and was on a plate for DFRL to score his fourth try of the game. Unfortunately the rubber legs didn’t have the energy to reach the posts, conversion missed, full time 41-0.

A much improved team performance this week was reflected in the score line and was a good way to end what has been a successful year, enjoy the festive period, hopefully Santa will be kind and empty his sack for you!! Last training session of the year is Tuesday 18^th December.

Training begins again on Thursday 3^rd January @ 7pm.

Team: Jon Peacock, John Scott, Duncan Myres, Greg Fowler, Tom King, Paul McLaughlin, Dave Poole, Iwan Ranft, Adam King, Luke Daigneault, Callum Elliott,  Nick Golding, Malcolm Lee, Ian Baker, Dan Sanderson. Subs: Ady Gregory, Warren Greenway, Shane McNamara