Letchworth (Under 14s) 12 - Enfield Ignatians (Under 14s) 24

i]Match Report by Rob 'Hold The Back Page' Painter[/i]

The decider in this season's trilogy with Letchworth went the way of the boys in Blue and Gold (but with a strong tinge of Irish green) on a soggy St Patrick’s day morning in Letchworth. A 24-12 victory was a solid enough reflection of play and had more than a few similarities with our League win earlier this year. Then, Enfield raced into a 19-0 half time lead and closed out 19-5 winners after a more scrappy second half. This time we led 17-5 at the break with a similarly scrappy and tighter second half with both sides scoring a solitary try.

Enfield started brightly and pressed Letchworth in possession within their own half. Off an early scrum Ollie G burst forward. The ball was quickly recycled to Berkay who made yards up the left hand side. Then it was Hayden’s turn to make metres and the Letchworth defence became narrow. In a smart combination of forwards and backs play the latter could see space out wide to the right. George fed Ollie G who passed to Donie who then put in Ciaran to score. Patrick converted for 0-7.

Enfield, boosted by the score took control. Cian had the ball dislodged when almost over the line after another good carry from Ollie G.
However, after a line out, credit must go to the backs for using the space out wide once more. The ball again went securely through the hands. Donie tried his trademark dink- thru kick and Ciaran just managed to ground the ball for a try in the corner. Excellent execution from the backs. 0-12 12mins.

The hosts narrowed the gap on 20mins. Following a couple of penalties awarded, Letchworth took advantage of an offside to score. 5-12. But before half time Donie completed his hat-trick of assists. A well worked try from our dominant scrum preceded runs from Teddy and Berkay. Donie passed wide into space to Ollie H who did the rest for his first try of the season. 5-17 HT.

The second half was scrappier as the boys tired a little on a soft pitch. But 9 minutes into the period Cian scored the decisive blow. The pack generated the try by pushing Letchworth off their own scrum near their try line. Our number 8 scooped up and dotted down from the base. Patrick converted well from out wide. 5-24

Letchworth replied with a try of their own on 40mins. After a missed knock on and consecutive penalties our Teddy (who filled in well for the ‘short’ opposition alongside Kaiden, Daniel and Nick) rumbled over from short range following a tap and go penalty. 24-12.

In the later stages Enfield dominated but could not get a break. Donie was unlucky not to be awarded a try when diving over, he was adjudged to have knocked on. Several penalties went the way of the hosts too and in a first, Enfield were marched back 20 yards as they got on the wrong side of sir for pointing out an illegal hand-off.

A full time winning score of 12-24 was well earned as were the St Patrick’s day pints of Guinness sank in the bar after! And perhaps fittingly this reporter noticed that all 4 tries, the two conversions and three assists were all from boys with Irish heritage. Happy St Patrick’s Day indeed.

Our thanks to Letchworth for hosting us and we are sure our paths will cross again next season, and thank you again to Daniel, Kaiden, Nick and Teddy for stepping forward to assist our opposition - rugby values at their best.