No question it’s been a difficult couple of weeks for Enfield’s Academy. The opening League and Cup victories were quickly followed by a home friendly defeat only spared by a late rally and then the poor showing in Epping last Sunday. But the fog literally and metaphorically lifted at Donkey Lane this morning by a dominant victory in a friendly with Romford.

Ignatians started the game well in what turned out to be a fiercely competitive first half. Enfield’s defence got up quickly and pressed Romford back in their own half. But with the ball in hand our passing along the back line was a little too lateral. A couple of half chances were spurned by some handling and passing errors. But the intent was there.

Romford had a good spell midway through a tight first half. They were a physical side with a couple of talented runners. But the home defence was equally dogged. A couple of big hits from Barris, before he suffered an injury. demonstrated the lads commitment.

Going forward, George and James were at the heart of the most promising attacks. The former with quick thinking and little darts to open up the defence, the latter with simple direct running. A snipe by the scrum half direct from quick ruck ball took Enfield forward and he slipped in a lively James, playing at 12 to take us close. That chance passed but Enfield were getting on top. Just after 30mins came the breakthrough. James received a short pass and broke the line with a searing run to score. 7-0.

One score became two straight from kick off. Another break from James took us up the pitch. We won a penalty. From that the backs passed it wide for Donie to tee up Harry H to score from his unfamiliar wing position. 12-0. In what seemed an incredibly long first half, Enfield were left to do some desperate defending on their own line. They held up some strong carries beside their own posts before winning the turnover. The try scorers get the highlights but defence wins matches. 12-0 HT

While Enfield deserved a lead at Half time, it had been a tight game. We didn’t expect the second half to be as one sided as it turned out. Romford unfortunately suffered a couple of injuries and their limited travelling numbers meant the game because 13v 13 during the second period. Romford had suffered a psychological blow soon after the restart. After some scrappy play from Enfield the ball also fell loose in midfield behind the Romford defence. Sammy, fresh from the bench kicked the loose ball and chased after it. He smartly chested the bouncing ball before gathering to score. ‘Clever boy’ said proud dad. Harry converted for 19-0. 36mins.

Ollie H had come on at 9 at half time and immediately got involved with some bright play. He took the ball up quickly from a ruck after James had made another dynamic run. With men over, the backs used the advantage for Kaiden to finish well. Initially he was hauled down but he had enough momentum to get over the line. He deserved his try for a couple of decent, aggressive runs today. 24-0. 44mins.

We still had defending to do. The Romford flyer in the red scrum gap was a lively opponent and on one run evaded 7 tackles! eventually Donie halted his progress. Hayden carried and astutely kicked clear. Then came the score of the day, straight off the training paddock. Direct from a scrum, our backs ran onto the ball with pace from greater depth. It gave the attack more pace and power, allowing Sammy to run in for a simple finish. Harry again converted. 31-0

Sammy landed his hat trick shortly after. The try was a replica of this first, again kicking through a loose ball and watching carefully to pick up and dot down for the score. 38-0. Then a lovely delayed pass from Ollie S, who got around the park well today, put in Donie for a try to reward his own performance. 45-0.

As the game drew to a close there was a little bit of a fracas. But the last word fell to Josh C who scored after running on nicely to the ball. Harry converted well to conclude the scoring. 52-0 FT.

The coaches will have been pleased to give a lot of the squad game time and to see a number of vibrant performances. Equally delighted to see how resolute the defence was. The set piece was also solid. We thank Romford for travelling, Sir for Sir-ing and the whole Enfield Ignatians community for a meaningful and well observed remembrance on a foggy morning at Donkey Lane.