Short trip down the A10

Our second consecutive away fixture of the season saw us take the welcomed short trip down the A10 to play our local neighbours Enfield Ignatians on Sunday 16th October. We had been promised a morning of rain upon rain, but despite a little downpour on arrival to nicely soften the ground for the games, the weather was kind and even gave us a little bit of sunshine to warm the players and supporters.

With both teams having around 16 players, the coaches decided to play 4 games of 15 minutes to give every player the chance to play at least 45 minutes of rugby.

In game one, Cheshunt came out of the block flying and soon scored the first try with Morgan scoring after breaking away from the Enfield defence. Cheshunt were soon two nil up with Josh getting free from some Enfield tackles to run in another try. Enfield pulled a try back to make it 2-1, but Chris nicked in with another try to make it 3-1. Final score – Cheshunt win 3-1.

In game two, Cheshunt got straight back into their stride, taking a 2-0 lead thanks to tries from Tevin and Finley. Cheshunt were controlling the game, but one Enfield try was quickly followed by another to level things up. Cheshunt pushed to get the victory, but Enfield held on for the draw. Final score 2-2.

In game three, Cheshunt started really slowly and were punished for some poor tackling as Enfield ran through the team to score two quick tries and take an early 2-0 lead. The boys battled hard and Bobby managed to get a try back to make it 2-1, but despite putting Enfield under intense pressure, we couldn’t get the equaliser. Final score – Enfield win 2-1.

In the fourth and final game, both teams were fired up knowing that a win would secure an overall victory over the four games. There were some big fully committed tackles from both sets of players, but importantly the game was played fairly and in the spirit of rugby. Once again Cheshunt took the lead with a try from Finley with the pass of the game from Josh. Seeing the defence closing in on him, Josh managed to pass the ball out wide at precisely the right moment and with Finley running onto the ball at pace, a try was a certainty to put Cheshunt 1-0 up. Cheshunt kept the pressure on Enfield and eventually the pressure told as Morgan was able to put Cheshunt 2-0 and seal the win. Final Score – Cheshunt win 2-0.

So four games played in total, with two wins, one draw and one defeat – eight tries scored and four conceded. Well played to all of the players.

A couple of special mentions.

Man of the match – It was one of those weeks where there were a number of contenders for the man of the match award, with great performances all across the pitch. Matteo was excellent in only his second game for Cheshunt showing some good tackling and brave running with the ball, but the winner this week went to another new player also only in his second game. This player got involved in everything, was good in the tackle, ran well with the ball and got stuck into the ruck. Man of the match this week was George P - well done George.

A special mention this week must go to Callum for showing real sportsmanship behaviour. Upon tackling a player, he accidently felt awkwardly onto the player injuring them, but quickly got to his feet, apologised and shook the players hand. The referee made a point of praising Callum in the game, but also came over to the coaches in the clubhouse to praise his actions – well done Callum, a good example of hard and fair tackling and great sportsmanship.

So we move on to a home game with Stevenage next week and if this rain continues, it could be a very muddy Sunday morning, so a reminder that players are encouraged to being a change of clothes (Cheshunt club tracksuits would be great) to have a shower after the game. This will also help to limit the amount of mud being dragged into the clubhouse, especially as young children use the facilities during the week.

Have a great week all.