We all owe Jim Taylor a round of sincere thanks for booking us in with the Bureau of Meteorology for superb weather to celebrate 75 Years of Royals Rugby. On a very special day for the club our boys took to the field looking a treat in their old school cotton jerseys, having been primed and prepared by a pre-game chat from John Ross.
We were expecting Uni to put in a strong showing this round after getting up over the Eagles last round, and through the first half that’s exactly what we got. Following several back to back penalties, Royals found themselves trailing the Owls and looking for ways to retain possession and shift momentum their way. It took some doing with minimal chances, but at half time we went to the sheds with a narrow 19-14 lead.
Owls had a strong set piece that had our front row working hard and problem solving on the fly, and once they worked it out things changed rapidly. In the second half Royals piled on eight tries while Uni could manage only a single drop goal with the final lopsided score line seeing Royals run away victors at 71-17. This was off the back of a mammoth effort from our forward pack, led well by Rory Scott who put his hand up all day for carries and tackles. And we want to acknowledge Tom Iles performance this week as well. Tom always gets around the field and does more than his share of the hard yards- but he was significant to our defensive line this week. In the backs there was a lot of effort expended at the edges thanks to Andy Muirhead’s kick returns with a number of breaks made out wide by Tom Hayes, Joey Henry and Zac Ross.
All in all it was a fitting send off to the Phillip Enclosed oval in its current form with work now commencing on the ground improvements and clubhouse. Next week we’ll take on Wests at Griffith and try to take our current momentum into finals.
We hope to see you there.
