A commendable initiative by Enfield Ignatians enabled it to touch bases with a number of former youth section and current university players, who made a welcome comeback to the club although the scratch side, given a helping hand by a few regulars, ultimately experienced a narrow loss to Chess Valley on the Donkey Lane undercard (December 15th).

Acting coach Steve Renny said: “Although Conor McDermott and Harry Grolsch shared the Man of the Match award, it only seems right to thank referee, Dave Millar, for officiating in the spirit of the game in spite of the [awful] conditions.”

The visitors rocked up light in terms of numbers, or 11 to be precise, and the hosts sportingly ‘loaned’ them a couple of players, and two of them, Euan Renny and Jacob Wackett, made key try assists as Chess Valley took early control of the board in the form of a 14-0 lead.

This prompted a sterling fightback from Ignatians and the close range effort of prop Ray Hayes, allied to Tom Cox’s great run to the corner, were at the heart of equalising tries to level it at 14-14.

Chess Valley retook the lead after the break and, consequently, Ignatians changed their tactics as Jacob Wackett and Euan Renny returned to the fold.

Deferring to the power of their forwards, Ignatians were intent on matching Chess Valley stride for stride and some good work in close quarters enabled Ken Carroll to muscle his way over.

Despite the biting wind and rain, Ignatians continued to up the ante and a neat break from
Euan Renny taxed the Chess Valley defence before his offload successfully connected with the charging Alberto DiDio.

Just when Ignatians seemed to be heading for victory at 28-21, they were subsequently hit for two tries, and it was a kicking error which finally ushered in victory for the visitors.

Steve Renny added: “Obviously, I’m hoping that the returning ‘Uni’ students will be able to don club colours in future in true and time-honoured club tradition. Fair play, too to Paul Duke, who had a bit of a cold, but still managed to put in a full shift.”