Enfield Ignatians 62 (45) Old Albanians ‘B’ 0

After the previous week’s low scoring tussle in Southend, Enfield Under 15s bounced back with a try-umphant display in a league encounter on Sunday. The boys entertained Old Albanians B in a wet morning at Donkey Lane. But there was no damp squib to be seen as ten explosive and unanswered tries were dotted down by the boys in blue and gold.

Enfield made a much faster start than against Southend. Lesson learnt! So fast that this reporter missed the opening try. According to Junior reporter David Howley, two good passes from George and Harry put in David A. for an early score inside two minutes: 5-0

The pressure was relentless from the home side. They passed the ball well across the back line despite the weather with Sammy going just short following a flowing move. OA’s were forced to kick to clear on several occasions. On 14 minutes they kicked well but found the wrong guy. Sammy caught the ball really well, beat one man for pace and then did the classic one step towards his next opponent before veering away with the next step, beating one more player to dot down:10-0.

A few minutes later we had our third. OA’s booted clear but found Patrick who caught very well over his shoulder. He had 5 players in front of him but somehow danced around them all to score. The Strictly judges would have awarded a 10 for that! Harry converted well and it was 17-0 after 19mins.

The OA’s defence was struggling to cope with the power of David A. One barnstorming run saw him go from 22 to 22 with players falling off him. The watching spectators also noticed that our big forward also managed to get away from his ball-watching team mates…tut tut. He didn’t score from the run but did pick up swiftly from a lost OA’s line out shortly after to score his second on 22mins: 22-0

OA’s had some chances despite having to defend valiantly. Just on half time they had men over but passing proved to be difficult in the wet and they knocked on, drawing the half to a close. HT 22-0.

Enfield made the fastest of starts to the second period. OA’s kicked off to Patrick in midfield who set off to his right and back towards the centre to score. Now I’ve made that sound ordinary but there really is no way to describe the try other than ‘ridiculous’ as he ran around half the OA side to score! 29-0: 31mins

Soon after a good interchange between Ollie S and Sammy enabled the latter to score but the try was ruled out for a forward pass. We then enjoyed new player Henry’s ‘legs’ tackle to halt an OA’s charge after his teammates had unsuccessfully deployed the less effective ‘cuddle’ tackle technique. Also a quick word on Matteo. He missed most of last season but looked to be back to his best today with so much involvement on both sides of the ball. Good to see.

Adam got on the scoresheet with a quick double. First he followed up a good run from Liam S to score from short range. 36-0 (44mins). He then picked up on another loose ball to run in under the posts. He had the strength to shrug off a tackler in doing so. 41-0 49mins.

Late in the game Cian scored direct from the kick off with a determined and quick run but our friends at OA’s would have been disappointed with how easy it was for our no.8 to score from distance.

That try was sandwiched between two Enfield hat-tricks. David A’s came first. Adam had been heroically pushed back from the try line by OA’s. But David picked up immediately and crossed the whitewash. 48-0: 57mins.

The second hat-trick came from Adam in somewhat cruel circumstances. Several penalties were awarded to OA’s who had set up camp in the Enfield 22 for the last couple of minutes. Committed Enfield defence however denied our opponents a heartening score. Adam picked up a loose ball by his own posts and ran the full length of the field to score. He was shattered but had earned a hat-trick. 62-0. FT, (which is recorded as 45- 0 for league purposes)>

We thank our opponents for playing the game in a great spirit and also for OA’s for providing an excellent, communicative referee for the match. Thanks as always go to all those who braved the conditions to lend their valued support from the touchline.