Three up for Royle as Caldy keep up the wins

CALDY picked up in 2017 where they left off in 2016 with another bonus-point win to maintain their lead at the top of the table, but it wasn’t as easy as the score may suggest.

Scunthorpe ensured the Wirral side would have to work hard for the points and the visitors had their chances to score, but the outstanding defence from the home side never looked like cracking.

Caldy’s paceman, Nick Royle, picked up a hat-trick with some devastating speed and skill, and in the centres the power of Forbes Edwards was rewarded with a double after the artistry of Jack Lavin started the scoring with the first try of the game. Lavin converted four of the six tries.

For long periods Caldy had soaked up substantial pressure from Scunthorpe’s big forward runners, but at the hint of a mistake evergreen scrum-half John Broxson switched defence into attack to repeatedly open up scoring opportunities for the home side.

And by the halfway mark Caldy were out of sight with a 31-0 lead.

A lesser side could have crumbled but the visitors showed their resilience by limiting the second half damage to a single try from Royle on the 60-minute mark.

Caldy will be pleased to have won this first postChristmas fixture with an emphatic win against robust opponents.

Scunthorpe now lie 12th in the table after this defeat.