STANDING ROOM ONLY IN THE CLUBHOUSE AS LARGE CROWD DELIVERS A FITTING TRIBUTE TO LUCAS

It’s been a trying time for all concerned. The untimely death of first team stalwart Lucas Yoxall has occupied everyone’s minds at Enfield Ignatians, and the presence of a bumper crowd was in itself a fitting tribute to the memory of the young flanker at Donkey Lane on Saturday 13 January.

On an afternoon when the enormity of the occasion out-weighed the bare bones of the 24-10 loss to Hitchin, spirited Ignatians, spurred on by the spirit of Lucas, flew out of the blocks and played some of their best rugby of the season.So much so that Ignatians threatened to turn the formbook on its head in the wake of the 78-7 drubbing suffered against the same opposition in October.

The better of the two teams in the first-half, Ignatians caught the mood perfectly. Cussed and abrasive in the forward exchanges, and their passing, for the main, fluid and crisp, they surfed on the tide of emotion and a multi-phased attack, finished off by the pack, saw Seyi Adeosun open the scoring.

However, Hitchin responded, and, despite having Matt Georgiou sin-binned for not retreating the full ten metres, Ignatians continued to defend for their lives in a protracted spell close to their own line, before the visitors inevitably claimed the equalising score.

In a game very easy on the eye and a credit to both teams, Ignatians roared back. Despite a mis-firing lineout and the final pass eluding them at times, they continued to attack at every opportunity and were rewarded with a gem of a try signed off by acting captain Euan Renny.

However, the catalyst for the score was Man of the Match Tom MacDougall. Looking odds on to be corralled by an advancing defence, the outside centre gave the Hitchin ‘cover’ the run-around with some nifty footwork, before releasing an outrageous back-flip scoring pass.

The 10-5 half-time lead was no less than Ignatians deserved but would it be enough and could they sustain their momentum?

Ignatians did indeed get into some good positions after the break only to be haunted again by their travails at the lineout and, when Hadee Fayaz was yellow carded for lifting a player beyond the horizontal, Hitchin capitalised on the hosts’ numerical inferiority to make it level pegging again.

The second-half did indeed belong to Hitchin and, with Ignatians running out of puff in the final quarter, the visitors, with their forwards by now on top, claimed two further tries, one of which originated from turnover ball, to emerge deserving winners.

Head coach Jack Wilson said: “Their wasn’t a dry eye [among the players] before the game, and we were grateful for the visit to the changing rooms by Lukas’ parents, Mark and Shirley, and the encouragement they provided. We tapped into the raw emotion and did it for Lucas.

“We stayed in the fight for 60 minutes before running out of steam in the final quarter. However, today was about far more about the bare result, and was very much an occasion for the rugby family to come together.”

Still, the scenes will linger long in the memory - enhanced by the presence by a large contingent of Lucas’ relatives and family friends – and namely: the minute’s silence, the laying of the player’s shirt on to the centre circle, and the symbolic release of doves into the heavens above. Even the opposition chanted his name after the game. Unforgettable. RIP Lucas.

Squad: Tom Buckland, Jack O’Toole (Cairo Sango 55), Tom MacDougall, Carl Asare-Anderson, Hadee Fayaz, Jack Wilson (Erik Nagy 41), Daniel Shaw (Jack O’Toole 75), Matt Georgiou, Sam Hatchett, Matt Pollard (Seyi Adeosun 75), Seyi Adeosun (Nathaniel Clarke 65),Nathaniel Clarke (Calum Middleton 60), Frazer Briers, Euan Renny, Ethan Renny.
Tries: Seyi Adeosun, Euan Renny.
MOM: Tom MacDougall.