THREES ROAR BACK IN HENDON CLIFFHANGER

HERTS-MIDDLESEX MERIT TABLE FOUR NORTH-EAST

THREES ROAR BACK IN HENDON CLIFFHANGER

HENDON IIs 19 ENFIELD IGNATIANS IIIs 20

The threes picked themselves off the floor after the Finsbury Park drubbing, dusted themselves down and put the wrongs to right in a thrilling see-saw encounter against Hendon IIs which went right to the wire.

Despite some baffling refereeing interpretations at times, and the quizzical looks on the faces of players on both sides said it all, a decent game of rugby did actually break out.

This could have gone either way but Ignatians, trading toe for toe, hung in there and, trailing 19-15 in the dying throes, they went for broke by moving up-field at pace. Dave Conlan helped spark the winning move but ultimately it was Caolan Davey’s sublime pass which released the returning Stuart McClean for the winning try which finally ended the Hendon resistance.

Ignatians initially set out their stall with a couple of tries and Brad Smith set the wheels in motion following a neat line break, which pierced the initial line of defence and created just enough of a window for a successful secondary surge. Sam Barnes added the conversion as well as nailing a penalty from in front of the posts.

However, Hendon continued to respond. They added two converted tries of their own to lead 14-10, before Ignatians successfully sighted the line by successfully flexing their forward muscles. Having worked their way to within inches of the line, the blue and golds needed one final push. It was duly provided by the route one approach of South African Shaun Engelbrecht.

Unfazed, Hendon were forever a handful. They collected a third to lead 19-15 and went mighty close to adding a fourth, and it took a Herculean effort from the visitors’ defence to hold out on their own line before Hendon were penalised and the danger cleared.

Hendon must have thought that they had done enough to win, but the game had one final cruel twist to play in the form of the McClean score which tilted the balance the visitors’ way.

Captain Steve Renny said: “It was a great effort from the team and we stuck to a simple but effective game plan of trucking it up via the forwards. We scored some nice tries and there was some great defence, and particularly on our own line.”