CARROLL PROVES A CIPS' OFF THE OLD BLOCK AS THREES HANG IN THERE

HERTS-MIDDLESEX MERIT TABLE FOUR NORTH-EAST

BISHOP’S STORTFORD ABBOTTS 33 ENFIELD IGNATIANS IIIs 29

CARROLL PROVES A CIPS’ OFf THE OLD BLOCK AS THREES HANG IN THERE

Their spirit never wavered through thick and thin and, despite taking a buffeting from a heavy and physical Bishop’s Stortford pack, the blue and golds showed some deft touches which made for a close game.

However, the win was cruelly to elude them. Defending for their lives and down to 14 men following a yellow card, the visitors were forced to weather the storm as Bishop’s embraced all-out attack mode, and although there was a hint of a forward pass in the move, the hosts nailed the winning try with five minutes remaining.

A hint of what was to come came in the early on when Bishop’s turned on the heat up front, and consequently the visitors struggled to escape from their own half. The game also took its toll physically with scrum-half David Conlan getting injured (replaced by Caolan Davey) and Vinnie Sellick, who hurt his knee after tackling the behemoth in front of him.

Forced to live off their wits and imagination, Ignatians had their cards to play and the pace of the speedster, Ryan Browne (pictured), gave Bishop’s no amount of headaches. Finding himself in a one on one situation, after some good approach work from the visitors, there was only going to be one winner as the flyer stood the isolated defender up before roaring in for his first try.

The same player also sparked a daring chip and chase which forced a 5m attacking scrum, and from which Rondel Bernard crashed his way over from short range.

After winning another attacking scrum, Wayne picked up at the base and drove forward, and after the ball was released from the ruck, Richard Carroll showed some deft handling skills and immaculate timing by releasing a miss-pass which successfully located the scorer, Mapheon Dube.

Richard Carroll continued to do a passable impression of Danny Cipriani (Cips to his friends), and the fly-half again turned creator by setting up Ryan Browne who regathered cleanly and ghosted down the line before dotting down under the sticks.

In all, the visitors completed a five try haul, two of which were converted, but Bishop’s just had that bit more firepower and that was to prove decisive in sealing the outcome Still, the visitors were far from disgraced on an afternoon when it paid dividends to whip up a right old stink on the wing.