Verulamians recorded their second victory of the season and underlined their ambition to climb out of Herts/Middlesex One after a 12-11 win at Royston.

In the first half Vees, within minutes of the start, gained an offside penalty which George Harding duly converted. Vees’ backs remained constantly on the front foot but were unable to force a break due to Royston’s close tackling of their centres which denied their wingers the necessary width to convert tries.

On one of Royston’s rare attacks, an adjudged high tackle by Vees after 20 minutes enabled their kicker to level the score to 3-3. Vees then deservedly regained the lead with a long-range penalty from Alex Ricci just before half-time.

The second half saw Vees often on the attack from strong Sam Crowne and James Hayes runs that just failed on the final run-in with try-saving tackles.

Long-range Vee penalties from Alex Ricci failed to creep inside the uprights, but both sides traded penalties to leave the visitors with a slender 9-6 advantage.

Royston’s winger touched down to edge them 11-9 ahead.

However Vees countered following a Royston scrum offence and Alex Ricci’s penalty gave them a narrow victory.