The threes raised a few eyebrows by hitting the tacklebags with real intent in the pre-match warmup. Determined to banish the first quarter blues which had blighted their game in the previous games, and setting their stall out early this time, Hendon copped the backlash big time.

Even playing up the slope in the first period, and allowing for a few bouts of white line fever, Ignatians overpowered Hendon physically and the relentless pressure paid off as Chris Byrne (twice) and Hugh Halford, combined with a Bish Galloway conversion, underpinned a very satisfactory 17-0 half-time lead.

Any doubts that Ignatians would ease off in the second-half were quickly consigned to the locker room as the blue and golds continued to fill their boots at Hendon's expense, and Jonny Cunningham, Bish Galloway plus the irrepressible hat-trick completing Byrne, all crossed to further underscore a crushing win.

Galloway kept the scoreboard ticking over nicely by adding a further two conversions and he said: "It was an awesome performance and it's incredible to think that virtually everything we had talked about and had been practising on the training ground came off.

"You could really sense the mood of determination throughout the team in the warm-up and the opposition must have been wondering 'what are this lot all about'. We should have scored more tries but there's no doubting that it was a very good performance."

Scoreline clarification: The referee scored this as 44-0 win but the team can only remember 41 points – seven tries and three conversions.