Enfields Match Report !

ENFIELD IGNATIANS failed to come to terms with a lively Rochford Hundred side, as the league leaders showed considerable craft and guile that enabled them to secure a deserved 22-10 win at Donkey Lane, and stretch six points clear at the top of London Three North-East, writes Jonathan Landi.

It was just Ignatians’ second home defeat of the season and coach Ali Cook summed up: “It showed the gap between the top of the table and the middle, but basically we made too many mistakes, and Rochford capitalised when we had players off the park (sin-binned). Rochford also successfully countered our forward game when they needed to, and we didn’t produce enough quick ball.”
Belatedly, Cook used the occasion to crown Chris Lyons as the Inn on the Green January Player of the Month. He added: “Chris deserves his award for a series of good performances and particularly against Harlow and Sudbury.”
Not that Ignatians could have guessed what was coming, as for most of the first quarter, they were the masters of they all surveyed as they repeatedly bottled Rochford up in their own half.
In a performance in which the blue and gold forwards really put themselves about, they disrupted Rochford no end, and particularly in the tight and the line-out, but without crucially troubling the scoreboard.
Blessed with the ability to absorb pressure, Rochford showed their cobra-like qualities and they stung Ignatians on 14 minutes after impressive centre, Tom Ashton, broke through two tackles and fed fly-half Dan Needham for the first of his two tries.
Captain Rob Wyer summed up: “I have never felt so frustrated as after the first Rochford try, for we were on top and doing everything right, and our only mistake (until then) resulted in us conceding a try.”
Worse was to come and after Chris Lyons, was yellow-carded for deliberate off-side, and Rochford needed no second invitation as they twice capitalised when Ignatians were a man short.
However, Ignatians will be disappointed at conceding a ‘soft’ second try, as Needham chipped over the hosts’ defence, before re-gathering the ball without so much as a finger laid on him. But there was clearly much more to Rochford’s game and, with backs and forwards combining intelligently, the rampant visitors stretched Ignatians to breaking point as centre Darren Spencer burst clear for his side’s third try.
A further calamity was to befall Ignatians close to half-time, as a second yellow card, this time for Toby Rome (deliberate off-side), proved the prelude to a successful Ashton penalty and a 22-0 Rochford half-time lead.
Ignatians had to a mountain to climb in the second half, but to their credit, they showed considerable character in adversity, and their direct approach rattled Rochford, who were also to suffer two sin-binnings.
An early Jon Moore penalty, after Rochford failed to roll away in the tackle, sailed clean through the uprights, as the forwards, boosted by the fresh legs of the two Seans, Engelbrecht and Quinn, started to regain a grip.
Despite lacking composure at times, Ignatians’ securing of a penalty try, converted by Moore, was no less than they deserved, as they repeatedly sieged the Rochford line, as the visitors started to feel the heat. After Rochford’s had infringed a third time, when the prop stood up, the referee,
Paul Saunders, lost patience and awarded a try, that salvaged some lost pride.