Under 14s Have a Bright Start to the New Year

On a bright but chilly Sunday morning, Enfield Ignatians U14s kicked off 2024 with a visit to Watford to take on Fullerians. Enfield welcomed Harry H back to the fold for his first game of the season after several months out injured. During his convalescence Harry has been perfecting the art of goal kicking; the question was ‘could the boys deliver tries to test him out under game pressure?’. The answer was a resounding ‘Yes!’ - with a 7 try, 38-15 victory to our U14s.
Whilst the final score was emphatic, the first half was a tight affair. Enfield were out of the traps quickly and - following a strong run from Cian - the ball was recycled for Donie to score under the post, duly converted by Harry. Despite this early setback, Fullerians began to exert pressure on Enfield. Following multiple plays, with some strong running, Enfield were pushed back deep into their own half. Were it not for a try saving tackle by Ollie S on six minutes, Fullerians would have had points on the board. And where Fullerians were wasteful, Enfield were clinical; on 11 minutes Donie intercepted the ball and offloaded it to Kaiden who sprinted clear to score Enfield’s second try. This wasn’t converted but Enfield led 12-0.
The remainder of the first half was all about Fullerians as they were well on top in terms of possession and territory. On 15 minutes, when the ball wasn’t protected following an Enfield run from deep, the ball was overturned and Fullerians ran in a deserved first score of the day. The pressure continued but Enfield tackled well with some try saving tackles by Liam S, Ollie H and Archie, and Kaiden thwarting attacks on the wing. Despite these efforts, Fullerians scored a second try which brought the score to 12-10. With the first half minutes ticking down and Enfield needing to regroup, Fullerians crossed the try line for a third time, only to be held up superbly by Ollie S and George. The half-time whistle finally blew with Enfield holding a slender two point advantage.
Whilst there may have been a few fingernails bitten on the sidelines, the second half started like the first with an early Enfield try straight from the kick-off when Adam caught the ball and ran hard and straight through Fullerians defence for a 19-10 lead. The game went through a scrappy five minute phase where there were a number of scrums due to handing errors by both sides. Earlier in the season the scrum had come under pressure during several matches but it held solid today.
As the second half reached the midway point, two quick fire tries by Hayden put Enfield in full control 38-10 ahead. The first was off the back of a line out with a trademark dummy and strong run, the second following a good burst through the middle by Jeremiah. Enfield were coasting at this point but a yellow card for one of our players put Enfield down to 14 on the field. Our values shone through with a polite “sorry sir” from the departing player as he spent a few minutes on the touch line. Fullerians got a try late on as the game drifted towards its conclusion and the final score 38-15.
Enfield U14’s put in a strong performance and represented their club well on and off the field today. This was a good test for the boys ahead of an upcoming third league game against Old Albanians