Pre-season friendly Royston 59 St Ives 5 A HEAVY scoreline did not fully reflect the pattern of this match. Saints travelled to Royston on a hot day with a severely depleted line-up that included several players making their first team debuts. The game

Pre-season friendly

Royston 59 St Ives 5

A HEAVY scoreline did not fully reflect the pattern of this match.

Saints travelled to Royston on a hot day with a severely depleted line-up that included several players making their first team debuts.

The game was played over a format of four, 20-minute quarters, to, in theory, allow squads to rotate. In practice, this benefited the home side, who used their larger squad to good effect.

The majority of the home side's scores came from either good, open play or mistakes from the tired-looking St Ives defence.

St Ives never gave up and continued to battle, eventually securing a score from a scrum five metres from the line.

St Ives captain Pete Hammond said: "I am pleased with how the game went - we played well throughout against a much bigger squad.

"We defended well and put together some excellent attacking phases of play - we can take many positives from the performance.