The Canberra Royals have farewelled Phillip Oval for the season with a stunning 71-17 win over the Uni-Norths Owls to celebrate their 75th anniversary this afternoon.
The home side would waste no time in getting on the board as a Royals scrum would provide a perfect opportunity to get Andy Muirhead the ball on the short side which became the first score of the afternoon. Collecting the ball from the scrum, Muirhead would then give a beautiful short ball to Thomas Hayes who then raced away to score.
Later in the 13th minute Owls hooker Cameron Johns would capitalise off a lineout in the Royals red zone, creeping his way forward before pouncing over the line for a quick rebuttal giving the visitors a 7-5 advantage after Samuel Toa nabbed the conversion.
Pressing their advantage, Uni-Norths would cross the line once again in the 15th minute after a clean line-break from Siave Seti would see the back cruise over 40 metres to score once again for his side, taking their lead to 14-5 after another conversion from Toa. However this effort would be the last try-scoring effort from Uni-Norths and the only further points added to their tally would be a field goal in the 47th minute.
Following the visitors second try, the Royals would then go on a 10-try spree for the remainder of the match to mercilessly blow out the last placed Owls at Phillip Oval.
Commencing the onslaught was Brumby Liam Bowron in the 27th minute after a strong rolling maul from the Royals allowed Bowron an easy try wrapping around the right side of the maul. After 10 minutes of play another Brumby in Sefo Kautai would find a try of his own after deciding to go himself with an unstoppable pick and drive from the front rower.
Kautai's effort would take the tally to 19-14 heading into halftime after Pedro Rolando would convert both his sides previous two tries.
Coming out of the sheds ready for an enormous second 40, the Royals got on the board once again through a lovely Rory Scott offload giving an early try to Oscar Waite.
In the 53rd minute Connal McInerney would take the field and manage to convert his first touch of the ball into a five-pointer through yet another dominant Royals maul. The effort would take Royals lead to 31-17 with just under half an hour to play.
Three minutes later, a Uni-Norths lineout in their territory gone wrong would fall straight into Sefo Kautai's hands giving the prop a chance to burrow under the defence for his second try of the match.
Continuing their set piece dominance, Royals converted their field position into points as a barnstorming run from Rory Scott proved too hard to handle from close range.
In the remaining 10 minutes the Royals would put the nail in the coffin and run in another four tries to end the match through Joey Henry picking up a double and both Scott and Bowron adding to their tallies.
Canberra Royals 71 (Tries: Thomas Hayes, Liam Bowron 2, Sefo Kautai 2, Oscar Waite, Connal McInerney, Rory Scott 2, Joey Henry 2; Conversions: Pedro Rolando 6, Joe Winfield 2) def. Uni-Norths Owls 17 (Tries: Cameron Johns, Siave Seti; Conversions: Samuel Toa; Field Goal: Samuel Toa)
