Royston match report (38-25)

The stage; a cold and crisp Downhills morning, posts and flags set up roughly 30 seconds before kick- off.
Our cast; 17 strapping Fins, 12 forwards, 5 backs and 0 kickers. 20 Royston players and 1 very temperamental Royston coach.

The warmup started well despite the conspicuous absence of a Fins front row until 30 minutes to kick off, presumably they were somewhere hard at work on their scrummaging. Paddy, Franny and Mitch slotted seamlessly into the fins back line, with a clear gameplan of dominating the midfield with big shots and big carries. This suited the Fins backs with Josh and Jake both bulking over summer with little to no regard for fitness and manoeuvrability, vintage Fins rugga.
The game started well for the Fins, with a clean take and exit kick taking us to halfway. From the resulting line out Royston executed well despite big bad Billy getting up high. Royston’s half backs shipped the ball to the midfield and Paddy and Franny yelled shot as the bang bros prepared for some midfield dominance, both then turned to one another in shock as no shot was made and Royston broke through to score.
The game slowed down after this with the Fins scrum working two penalties from scrums and fronting up in midfield to drive up the pitch. This forward play led to two quickfire tries from the big boys as they dominated Royston in the narrow.
Marc, who is about to return to France after a couple of huge seasons with the Fins, sadly let his inner Frenchman begin to get the better of him as he prepared to return to frogland as a shanked penalty kick was followed by a torrent of naughty French words. What is it with Fins’ scrum halves from France throwing toys out of the pram… Despite this, Marc had a very good game, putting in some of his characteristic big tackles and proving that his behaviour has improved after a year in North London as he ended the game without mooning the crowd.
Halftime was a clear message from Josh; work hard in the short and narrow and we’ll go through them.
This plan was to be undermined almost immediately after the second half began. In a scandal that would put Sir Keir and his lovely suit collection to shame, the referee allowed Royston’s ten to get away with a knock-on that must have been about a meter forward. Presumably expecting the whistle, the Royston man hacked the ball away with his foot and it sailed towards the touchline. This hideous fly hack ended up in the hands of a Royston winger who broke through to score as the Fins wide channels were rendered motionless by this miscarriage of justice. In an even more upsetting mockery of justice, Royston’s ten then acted like this was planned all along – we see you.
This put the wind in Royston’s sails as they quickly retrieved the ball after resumption of play. They spread the ball wide with great endeavour until Victor seized his moment to rush up in defence to make an interception and effortlessly round the fullback (must be his ninth or tenth skinning of the season already).
AT wasn’t to let just two scrum penalties define his 100th game for the club as he rumbled up the pitch. Fred Bromley, clearly keen to assert dominance as the first player to receive 100 caps, decided that every penalty would now be a tap and go and carry from him. This proved to be a masterstroke as Fred gorged upon Royston metres again and again. At one point making a clean line break that surprised him so much he flung the ball to a Royston player. Ali and Jude supported Fred’s attacking renaissance with relentless work rate throughout the game.
The Fins fought back with some tasty forwards’ ball as Charlie, Gerrard and Paul Smith stood out with some big aggressive carries. The evolving 1-3-3-1 structure, though too complex for the average mind of a forward, began to show its teeth with great calls and passes coming out of Josh at 10 to hit Jake out wide who broke through and made 20 metres. With Royston camped behind their five metres and struggling to escape, the Fins piled on pressure on defence. Showing that the next generation of Latin and Greek students of north London are in good hands, Franny employed quick thinking to then leap around the ruck as Royston let the ball spill behind their tryline. This prompted yet another explosion of rage from the Royston coach to the delight of Fins’ home supporters. One try in it.
Ultimately, the Fins were off the pace in the final ten with some rotten luck and even more rotten lungs. Royston showed their stamina (and large bench) to score two late tries and finish the game off. Most Fins, apart from notoriously positive Morgan, rightly felt that this was a game they could have won. With more practice as the season progresses, the future looks bright.