Enfield Ignatians 3rd XV 3 Welwyn 3rd XV 12

The third team development squad travelled to Enfield this week with the need for a win to cement a mid table finish.

The weather was fine and the pitch a tale of two halves. One slightly soft but mainly dry, the other covered in what can only be described as looking and smelling like silage!

We kicked off attacking the deep end and were quickly all over the Enfield defence. Welwyn were called back for a forward pass after Mevans put Old Man Humph clear on the right and then the backs wasted an overlap on the left aided by good Enfield tackling.

Si clearly didn't fancy the conditions and knowing that Humphries and big Keith Bothick were about to spoof for who was replaced by son James at half time cleared the matter up after about 15 minutes by taking a dive with an injured knee. Uncontested scrums was the result much to the upset of the Enfield 14 who couldn't believe that a 'big club like Welwyn' didn't have another tin of front row available!! (Mick was looking slightly uneasy just for a moment on the touchline - but all was well - Beautiful!)

Several more chances came and went in the mud (including Leon deliberately dropping the ball over the line under instructions from Tiffy?!) before a charged down kick led to Austen (watch my hair) Clarke touching down (for his first try) near the posts for Ant to convert for 7 - 0. More Welwyn attacks saw first Creaky (welcome back) then Andy go close.

Enfield then mounted their first attacks of the game and pressure resulted in Welwyn conceding in front of the posts for them to pull back to 7 - 3 at half time.

The second half was more of the same. Good forward driving mauls with big contributions from Neil Smith, Bill, The role Model, Keith (now a forward again) and Long Tom led to good field position on the right and after a good passage of play and recycling Marcus ripped the ball clear to drive over on the right. Ant narrowly missed the conversion for 12 - 3.

It was now that Enfield mounted their most sustained pressure on the Welwyn line. 10 minutes of mauling and driving in the Welwyn 22 saw several big tackles from Mevans, Harry, James L, and the forwards repulse the yellow and blue shirts and Ant and James find good touches to relieve the pressure.

Welwyn finished strongly (after the ref sold a beautiful dummy by announcing that Enfield players were not really offside chasing a kick as he had first said) with some good old fashioned kick and chase and Mevans sliding a neat pass off the inside of his boot to Ant who almost scored under the posts.

Overall a good well earned victory in difficult conditions which leaves a chance of finishing 3rd with a win in the final game.

And finally.............Man of the match was to have been Marcus but as he left before the announcements a hastily convened committee decided that on reflection he played like a complete girl and his beer should be donated to the team................well done Marcus and welcome back!