ROYALS RFC bounced back from their first loss of the season in style, courtesy of a resounding 12-41 win away to Shoreham II.
They had to wait three weeks to put right the narrow loss at Eastbourne [26-22], after their home match-up the following weekend to Newick was postponed.
Despite the break, captain Joao Tomas and his side did not miss a beat against the West Sussex outfit, to dominate proceedings from start to finish.
The Blues are now three wins from four on the young Harvey’s Brewery Counties 3 Sussex season, just five points adrift of the side that beat them, Eastbourne II, but with two games in hand on the leaders.
A powerful start to the contest saw the visitors dominate the scrum, despite the sheer size of Shoreham in the pack.
The opener came via George Burke, before Piers Brandie broke through from Royals’ 10-metre line to score.
Shoreham had little joy breaking the Caesareans down, but a string of controversial penalties throughout the half allowed the hosts to add nine points by way of penalty kicks.
The tide appeared to turn when Royals were shown two yellow cards in a short 30-second time frame, to give Shoreham a two-man numerical advantage.
Despite that, the Islanders dug deep and allowed no points during those ten minutes.
Restored to number parity, Royals kicked on and Burke added two more scores in the second-half to complete a brilliant hat-trick.
Shoreham began to tire and, although they added a try of their own, Royals hit back with two more from Cam Halliwell and Christian Weald to cap off a highly successful trip to the mainland.
Royals return home this weekend to welcome eighth-placed Midhurst on Sunday.
Royals RFC [1-15]: Joao Tomas (C), Jack Low, Harvey Evans, Conor Bisson-Mercury, Dan Foley, JJ Le Feuvre, Brodie Sutton, Cam Halliwell, Nathaniel Cameron, Jake Vautier, George Burke, Hugo Reid, Ben Smith, Corne Visagie, Christian Weald. Replacements: Charlie Dixon-Smith, Zak Le Marquand, Ross Williamson, Piers Brandie.
