It proved a very tough day at the office for Enfield Ignatians as a new-look team featuring six Senior Academy debutants suffered a heavy 96-19 away defeat against Harrow in their first league game of the season at Wood Lane, writes Jonathan Landi.

The visitors’ best moments were in the first-half. Man of the Match Sam Rushmer was the standout player and his two try haul, allied to Jack O’Toole’s tap-and-go effort and Dan Shaw’s two conversions, saw them cast 49-19 adrift at half-time.

Ignatians’ ill-discipline in the form of two yellow cards (wrong side of the maul and not retreating 10m at a penalty) didn’t help either, but it was in the second-half when the wheels came off as their muted response ensured that Harrow ran amok.

Coach Gary Phillips in his post-match debrief bemoaned the lack of leadership displayed by the senior players at this juncture, although credit must go to the younger cohort, some of whom were playing out of position, for their brave efforts.

In an expanded and far more competitive league than last year, Ignatians won’t want to experience many more afternoons like this, and they can certainly help themselves in the short term by getting bodies back for the game against Hammersmith and Fulham.

Persisting with their youth policy trajectory by blooding their most promising prospects makes perfect sense, but the current absence of a second team is a huge drawback as it’s a more logical starting point in which to blood new recruits and the Senior Academy graduates.
The inability to field team is all the more perplexing as most teams in the league currently field an A side, and it goes without saying that that the current already thin playing resources are stretched to breaking point due to injuries/unavailability.

Furthemore selection shouldn’t be governed by the mere premise of availability. Put simply, the shirt needs to be competed for at training on a weekly basis.

The club also needs to address its recruitment and retention strategy as the local rugby landscape has much changed in the post Pandemic recent years, and consequently the club can no longer rely exclusively on its traditional heartlands in this area: Enfield Grammar and St Ignatius College.

Paying players at this level makes little or no sense, but helping a youngster find a job, for example, via the club’s network of employers would seem a far more constructive way of attracting/bonding players to the club.

The club, amidst much fanfare, unveiled its new-look changing rooms in September 2025, but clearly building a strong squad with the results to match would seem an imperative. Future developments are awaited with interest.