Coach Adam Butt knew his side could win games, but could they do it on a day they'd been below-par?

Royals answered that question as they continued their unbeaten start to the John I Dent Cup with a 23-20 win over the Wests Lions at Jamison Oval on Saturday.

A 72nd-minute Thomas Hallam penalty ultimately proved the difference as Royals held off a wave of late attacking raids to prevail for the third week in a row.

The boot of Pedro Rolando had given the competition frontrunners a buffer before a late Wests try brought the contest to life as the Lions looked to mark old boys day with a comeback to remember.

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But their final push into the Royals' red zone came to no avail with Ben Johnston putting the ball into touch to douse any hopes of an injury time boilover.

"Winning a tight game is never easy," Butt said.

"Sometimes you're unsure whether you've got that ability in you to squeeze out those tight games that you haven't performed as well in as you'd like, but I'm really pleased the guys stuck to their guns at the end there and stood up when it counted.

"I'm pleased with the fact they stood up and were able to finish the job, but we've got to be 100 per cent honest with ourselves and realise the performance we put out there wasn't the best.

"Wests were excellent at disrupting what we did, and I'm sure Marco [Cecere] isn't pleased with the execution either but it's still early in the year.

"To be honest we adjusted our set piece really well. We were under pressure really early in the scrum but it really became dominant at the end.

"We had a goal at the start of the year to take two from three, so I'm really happy to take three from three. We'll turn up Tuesday now, set some more goals and re-evaluate where we stand."

AT A GLANCE

John I Dent Cup round three: CANBERRA ROYALS 23 (Connal McInerney, Allan Wratten tries; Pedro Rolando 2 conversions; Rolando 2, Thomas Hallam penalties) bt WESTS LIONS 20 (Declan Meredith, Timoci Naivaluwaqa, name withheld tries; Meredith conversion; Meredith penalty) at Jamison Oval.

QUEANBEYAN WHITES 26 (Nathan Carroll 2, Hudson Creighton, Jackson Stuart tries; Carroll 3 conversions) bt GUNGAHLIN EAGLES 22 (Sam Hyland 2, Syris Schmidt, Klayton Thorn tries; Isaac Crowe conversion) at Campese Field.

UNI-NORTHS OWLS 53 (Miguel Fernandez 2, Ignacio Bonsembiante, Conan Va'aga, Angus Blackmore, Hamish Dawson, Callum Frawley Richardson, Reilly Laarge tries; Jordan Thompson 4, George Hewitt conversions; Thompson penalty) bt PENRITH EMUS 21 (Joseph Lavaki 2, William Tooala tries; Kyle Brown 3 conversions) at ANU North Oval.

Premier XVs round three: UNI-NORTHS OWLS 48 (Molly White 3, Susannah Cooke 3, Zara Lee, Holly George tries; Jess Grant 4 conversions) bt PENRITH EMUS 0 at ANU North Oval.

CANBERRA ROYALS 71 (Brooke Gilroy 2, Ashlea Bishop 2, Niki Paterson 2, Ella Boundy 2, Halley Derera, Ellie Brislane, Bonnie Brewer tries; Bishop 7, Kristie Matthews conversions) bt WESTS LIONESSES 0 at Weetangera Oval.

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