Back-rower Rory Scott showed why he's already on the ACT Brumbies radar, scoring a hat-trick to continue a whirlwind debut season in the John I Dent Cup.

Scott's performance was the icing on the cake for Royals, who beat the Uni-Norths Owls 40-21 in front of a huge crowd at Phillip before continuing the festivities at a post-match reunion.

The 18-year-old is cut from the same cloth as another Marist College and Royals junior, Tom Cusack, and if Scott follows Cusack's career trajectory he'll reach his Brumbies goal soon enough.

Scott represents the future for Royals and he showed why with some dazzling footwork, a tireless work-rate and the finesse to capitalise on a dominant forward-pack performance by his teammates.

The former Marist College student is in the Brumbies Academy and played alongside Australian rugby great Stephen Larkham earlier this year after being called into the Classic Wallabies for a 10s series in Hong Kong.

"These sort of days are great, a real focus on the history and the past but there's also a focus on what we're doing now," Scott said.

"I think I'm really lucky here. My job is easy behind a dominant forward pack, I get a few pushover tries to finish off."

Royals coach Wayne Southwell added: "He's really coming along nicely, he really is a young talent and he's enjoying every moment of it.

"It will be good to see him keep going. This is his first year out of school, so he's only just getting started."

The win lifts Royals to the top of the ladder after a grinding first half set up a bonus-point triumph against the Owls.

Pedro Rolando finished with 15 points, Scott scored a hat-trick and tries to young gun winger Liam Shaw and Samuel Von Blankensee kickstarted the party.

"It was nice to come away with a bonus point, particularly on a big day. It might now not have been fancy, but we wanted to stick at what we wanted to do," Southwell said.

"It's huge to win on a day like this ... we also wanted to use today as a platform for finals footy. It was more grinding, so we're happy with that."

The Owls, who have been hit by injuries and unavailability this year, were left to rue missed opportunities and squandered scoring chances.

Dave Bennett had a try controversially denied in the first half when the referee ruled he knocked the ball on, and the Owls trailed by just seven points deep into the second half when Declan Tancred scored his second try.

But Royals were too powerful on a milestone day for the club and coach Sam Rolfe lamented missed tackles and mistakes.

Results in other games, however, allowed Owls to hold on to fourth spot for the run to the finals, while Queanbeyan and Wests are lurking just behind.

"Missed opportunities were our No. 1 problem ... and then complacency at the end by not executing at the right times," Rolfe said. "Our set piece was under a lot of pressure and there was a lot of weight coming through, that showed in the first half.

"I think we can definitely beat the top three teams, we've definitely got it in us. We were just missing a little bit of experience, if we get that back late in the season it will really help."