Threes Lift the Siege and Make It to Final Four

The threes harbour realistic ambitions of winning silverware and moved to within an ace of reaching the Plate final following a tough away encounter at Hendon.

The visitors must have felt a little red-faced after leaking a try within minutes of the kick-off, but they regrouped well and a snappy drop goal by fly-half Xavier Babington was the prelude to two very solid scoring forward efforts from the deadly marksman that is Chris Byrne and Damon Rodney.

However, the euphoria was short-lived as Hendon were always a force in this game and two further tries from the home side gave them a slender 15-13 half-time lead.

This galvanised Ignatians and a very solid second-half innings saw Byrne, a player with a bloodhound's instinct for the tryline, finish off a pushover effort in the corner to secure his brace; his first-half effort being the product of a successful rolling maul.

Ignatians continued to hit their straps as regards the scoreboard and a successful penalty from Babington, followed by try from Bish Galloway, opened up an 11 point gap.

Steadfastly refusing to read the script, Hendon hit back with a try of their own before conjuring a grandstand finish which threatened to submerge Ignatians' cup ambitions.

Bish Galloway conceded: "We were under fierce pressure in the final ten minutes but managed to hold out. We're very determined to win the competition and, with the plate finals taking place at the club on April 27th, it would be great if one of the Ignatians sides were represented." There's no faulting the ambition.