Enfield Ignatians discovered to their cost how fast fortunes on the rugby field can change. Snappy, confident and business-like in the first-half, the visitors never showed up in the second-half as their aspirations became submerged in the cloying-mud of Southgate, writes Jonathan Landi.

However, none of the lethargy that had characterised the tame performance against Harlow was evident in the first period. Moving with a real spring in their step, Ignatians, playing classical wet weather rugby, made good use of their prime ball carriers such as Aaron Doe, Sam Bloom and Sam Bucknall when it came to doing the hard yards.

Making light of the handicap of playing up the slope, Ignatians got into some promising positions without making the final pass pay, and even when they were pinned back in defence, priceless lineout steals by Jack Giltrap and Doe ensured that Saracens were unable to capitalise.

Kealan Foye and Man of the Match Henry Pritchard were others to put in a decent shift at the coalface as all looked well for the visitors.

The only blot on the horizon was the concession of a kickable penalty which Sarries potted to go 3-0 up. However, Ignatians will have been the happier of the two sides going into the break as both sides rung the changes at the interval.

It certainly looked promising for a while. Conrad Edgar, one of the rob madle's impact subsitutions, made a thunderous start to the second-half as he repeatedly clattered into the Sarries' defence.

However, it literally all faded to grey for Ignatians. Killed by a mounting penalty count, the visitors lost all momentum. Ignatians must have felt that they were being refereed off the park as in one sequence they were pinged for crossing, holding-on and not rolling away at the tackle area.

At other times, Ignatians made it easy for the man in the middle. Even when they won a rare penalty, and were within sight of the Sarries' line, a propensity to get isolated means that they were inevitably done for holding-on.

As the wind went out of Ignatians' sails, Sarries, by the same token, were energised by a combination of their impact substitutions and holes suddenly appearing in the visitors' hitherto water-tight defence. Consequently, Sarries filled their boots and two tries by the forwards and one from the backs literally knocked the stuffing out of Ignatians.

Coach rob madle said: "I thought we played well in the first-half. However, we had no ball in the second-half and made some terrible decisions such as getting isolated. Although we made too many mistakes, we never gave up."

Despite the setback, Ignatians still have plenty to play for. They are aspiring to get promoted from Herts-Middlesex Division Four. Unbeaten in three league outings, Ignatians still have a chance of wrapping-up the title providing that they can beat Tring B and
Old Albanians B.