THREES COMPLETE MEMORABLE DOUBLE OVER BELSIZE PARK

The threes are one just of two sides to beat highflying Belsize Park IVs and they added to their home victory against the table toppers before the start of day by shading another thriller.

Not that captain Steve Renny, hardly one given to pessimism, had anticipated a repeat of last year's
17-14 epic win. He said: "Driving to the game, I thought we might be up against it as we were lacking our first-choice fly-half and scrum-half.

"This meant that two players had to step up to those positions with Michael Gorham (scrum-half) and
Ethan Renny (fly-half) both proving able deputies. However, it was our decision to defer to our forward strength against a much lighter Belsize Park pack which proved decisive."

Granted the disparity in size between the two sides, Ignatians' full frontal assault via the tight eight wreaked havoc in the opening exchanges, with both Chris (family name not supplied) and Lewis White
reaping the rewards of a dominant forward platform as the visitors scored two tries to go 10-0 up.

However, Belsize Park, forever a danger with the ball in hand, never went away in a game was played at Hackney RFC , as the opposition pitches were unplayable, and forced their back by replying in kind to level matters at 10-10 at the break.

It was still all to play and Ignatians, having digested the painful lessons of the Southgate loss, were
only going to go one way. "Against Southgate we changed our game-plan and it cost us dearly in the
second-half, so we decided to stick to a forward orientated game, " added Steve Renny.

Further dividends were reaped by sticking to the tried and tested when an unsung hero of the pack,
Jason Joseph, who has done much invaluable recruiting work for the team, celebrated his first try for
the club by forcing his way over - Ethan Renny converting.

In a game of ebb and flow, Belsize Park, added a third unconverted try and were going all out for the win in the dying throes of the game when Ignatians were hanging on by their fingernails, having had two players sin-binned including captain Renny.

Having conceded a number of penalties, and still in desperate defence mode, Ignatians somehow weathered the storm. In the final last act, they saved their own skins by forcing the turnover, hoofing
the ball to touch and the sweet cup of victory was theirs.