After the heavy rain of the previous night, the air was humid and the ground was soft for Enfield Ignatians to welcome Letchworth. Making their debuts for Enfield Ignatians were Henry and David J, who were ready to make their mark. A special shoutout goes to Logan, Daniel, Ciaran, Kaiden, and Hayden for donning the Letchworth colours and filling in their ranks.

Coach Alfie, ever the epitome of elegance with his shiny new boots, was ready whistle in hand to oversee today’s proceedings. His new footwear ensured he glided across the pitch with the ease of a gazelle.

The first 5 minutes were scrappy, with the highlights being debutant David J showing his strength charging through Letchworth's defences and making some significant yards and the scrum, previously a point of concern after their last match against Chess Valley, held firm. Additional training with the scrum machine last Sunday paid off and the boys looked more solid.

Enfield were clearly dominant, and Letchworth resorted to kicking the ball down field to try to ease the pressure. One such kick, on 9 minutes, was caught by Patrick whose return run was stopped 5 meters from the try line. The ball was quickly recycled by the half-back pairing and moved out wider for Ollie G to ran in the first try. The conversion fell short from a tight angle, Enfield 5-0.

At the 16th minute, another defensive kick from Letchworth was well gathered by Chenitha. He handed it off to Patrick, who danced past three defenders before offloading to Ollie G, who dived into the right corner. The conversion was again missed but Enfield extended their lead to 10-0.

On 21 minutes, Cian received a yellow card for a tackle that sent his Letchworth opponent past the horizontal on landing. Ever the gentleman, Cian acknowledged his error and accepted his card, stepping off the field for 6-minutes. Despite being down to 14 men, on 22 minutes, the ball was turned over and Chenitha and Patrick surged forward once more before the forwards made several powerful drives at the line and Hayden broke through to score. This time, the conversion was successful, pushing the score to a commanding 17-0 in favour of Enfield Ignatians.

At the 30-minute mark, just as the halftime whistle was poised to blow, the fourth try arrived. The ball moved swiftly through the backs before landing in the hands of Cian, who forced his way through to score. The conversion made it a solid 24-0 lead at halftime.

The second half picked up right where the first left off with another Enfield try. Letchworth's defence had barely settled when Henry, low to the ground drove their players off the ball. Ollie H moved the ball to Harry and then onto Chenitha on the wing, who brought it to within millimeters from the try line with an impressive drive before popping it to Matteo to score. The conversion was scored, 31-0.

Then came a flurry of tries between the 35th and 40th minutes. Patrick's dazzling run set up Kaiden to score, Harry H used the decoy wide runners to dot down, and Ollie G nabbed his second try. Two of the three tries were converted, Enfield had hit 50 points.

Enfield were in a merciless mood, adding another trio of tries between the 45th and 52nd minutes; Matteo and Berkay, with bulldozing runs through the middle to touchdown before Harry H added another. Two out of three conversions made it 69-0.

Despite the one-sided scoreline, Letchworth's spirit remained unbroken, they continued to carry hard when in possession, and Harry D-L saw yellow for a ‘seatbelt’ tackle as he tried to halt another Letchworth surge. Injuries to an understandably tiring Letchworth led to Ciaran, Kaiden, and Hayden donning the opposition’s colours to lend a hand joining Daniel and Logan. This injection of energy saw Letchworth pressing hard, and their persistence paid off with a well-deserved try. Heads held high, they continued their assault, and soon enough, our own on-loan Ciaran, scored a second try for Letchworth, the conversion bringing the score to 69-12.

As the match drew to a close, Enfield had one last word to say. The backs orchestrated a fluid move between Patrick and Max before Ollie G stormed in for his hat-trick. Although the conversion missed the mark, a final score of 74-12 left Enfield celebrating a dominant performance.

Enfield can be proud of the strength of the pack and the ability of the team to stop Letchworth’s strong runners quickly. The backs were sharp and moved the ball crisply across the pitch creating lots of chances. The coaches will still want to get the team running more forward rather than across the pitch but that’ll be for Thursday night. A big credit to Letchworth who kept their heads up and remained together as a unit despite this heavy defeat, and we can fully expect them to be stronger when we meet again in the league in February.

Enfield Ignatians RFC

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