When parents and young players looked out of the window on Sunday morning and saw and heard the rain, they thought the prospects of decent weather for rugby were poor: but the coaches knew it would turn out fine both the weather and the rugby. They were proved right as the Club welcomed Datchworth for another morning of rugby.

It has only been since the beginning of January that the Minis have been able to play their correct Age Grade rules and it has taken some of the teams a while to get into their stride, but they all certainly showed their progress against strong opposition.

Under 7s
Under the recent and aspiring coaching team of of Jo, Mateus, Tony and Mark, the stars of the future are really beginning to shine. All the players were fantastic and despite the harsh wind, all made a great effort and played wonderfully. There was clear progress evident in both the running and passing game. They all got stuck in and there were some wonderful tries from a number of young lads, including Ethan who bagged a couple. As expected the reward of a hot dog at the end of the games was greatly received by all.

Under 8s
Coaches Emmanuel and John were full of praise for the skill level shown by all the players. There has been significant in progress since the team made the trip to Datchworth last October. In two well contested games the passing and in particular support play, was sometime breath taking to watch and earned the applause of the enthusiastic parents on the touch line. Even more impressive was the the sportsmanlike skills shown on many occasions. Particular praise goes to Ollie for being awarded Roari, for the Rugby Star of the Day. The players are now looking forward to local derby against Cheshunt in two weeks time.

Under 9s
Sunday was a big day for the U9s as they were playing their first match with full tackling and they did not disappoint against a competitive team from Datchworth.
Both sides showed a desire to get stuck in from the start and that continued throughout both matches. There was great team play in attack as well as defence and it was a pleasure to see how far the players have developed since the beginning of the season.
All of the parents can feel proud of how their children played. Special mention goes to Anthony & Rayyan for winning players of the week.

Under11s
The U11s enjoyed a fantastic morning of rugby against Datchworth, a club who have always proved great opposition over the years. Today was no exception with both sides fielding two teams on a blustery morning at Donkey Lane.
The games on the two pitches were quite contrasting, one with some Herculean like defending, and the other end to end with tries.
Joshua was immense on pitch one, and his dedication and commitment was rewarded with a try from a crash ball. Whilst Datchworth had some big ball carriers, Champs really stepped up and made 3-4 try saving tackles. On the other pitch William and Archie made some devastating runs through the Datchworth team, scoring tries for fun, as well as tackling everything in sight.

Under 12s
The U12s travelled to Ruislip RFC for their final set of grading games. With the way the grading matches work this should be the closest of the matches so far, and so it proved on some very boggy pitches.
Racing to an early lead against Ruislip, Enfield’s usual second half malaise reappeared and a spirited fightback from Ruislip ensued. Just as things were looking bleak a late breakaway score for Enfield eased the pressure and ensured the win for Enfield.

A second match of the day, against Teddington RFC, started poorly for Enfield who soon found themselves two tries down.This time Enfield had a better second half performance which was a lot closer to their usual standard. However Enfield could only score the one try, despite having four disallowed for various reasons - two in the dying embers of the match.

Also, a warm welcome to Michael who made his EIRFC debut today.

Our thanks go to Ruislip for being such great hosts.