Walden win at Allianz Park

Wow what an experience as Saffron Walden travelled down to the Allianz Stadium to play Enfield Ignatians in the climax of their Big Day Out.
Just warming up on the fantastic specially made for Rugby 4G artificial pitch was just the start of the experience. Running out to music, lining up to a band playing the National Anthem with the big screen showing the game live and last not to say least several hundred or more supporters all added to an experience that the players will never forget.
However once the game started then all this was forgotten as Walden and Enfield slugged it out in a tight game. Walden started off brightly and soon were attacking the Enfield try line and from a 5mtr scrum the ball was fed out to centre Mark Kimberley who went over out wide 5 – 0 after 5mins.
Then as Walden gained possession from the restart they worked the ball out of their half. 3 minutes later Enfield gave a penalty away on half way and it was quickly taken by scrum half Will Brown and as he was tackled Enfield had not retreated the 10 mtrs and this gave full back Tom Price a chance to kick a fine penalty to extend the lead to 8 points.
Walden looked good in this first 15 minute period and looked like scoring again as they worked their way 40 mtres forward from a scrum only to be taken back when the touch judge adjudged that Walden had broken early from the set piece. Enfield kicked to touch and then attacked forcing Walden to stray offside and they narrowed the gap to 8 – 3 after15 mins.
Then a couple of minutes later Walden were caught again offside in near identical position and gap was doen to 2 to at 8 – 6. Enfield had a player sin binned for repeated offences and Walden hit back with a penalty of their own as Enfield were caught holding on to the ball and Price stepped forward to kick the 3 points 11-6 18 mins.
Walden then gave a series of penalties away and had Price sin binned which allowed Enfield to kick to the corner and from the subsequent line out they drove towards the line and from a ruck they picked off the base to force their way over to level the scores at 11 each. 32 mins
However Walden hit back again with penalty of their own as Enfield strayed offside and Will Brown kicked from in front of the posts 14 -11 after 32 mins. Price returned to the fray and almost immediately made an impact as he kicked a fine 40 mtr penalty to leave the half time score at 17 -11.
The second half started and it soon became apparent that the half time team talk had worked for Enfield as they started really strongly working the ball into centre of the park and as it was fed out from a ruck the right winger came off his wing and joined the line at pace to brake through the Walden defence and was over the try line wide on the opposite wing to score Enfields second try to narrow the gap to 17 -16 after 45 mins.
This was Enfields best period of the game and they were attacking from all areas of the field and only some fine defensive work by Miles and Price kept the ball out as they stripped the winger and gained a clearing penalty. This took the steam out of Enfield and on the hour mark Enfield gave away another penalty this time for not releasing and Walden stretched the lead back to 4 points at 20 -16.
Walden began to exert control on the game and Enfield were forced to attack from deep and apart from one very good break which was thwarted on the half way line by flanker Tom Pryke the Walden defence held firm and they gradually starved Enfield of any decent possession and ran the clock down to win the game.
Although it was only a league game it felt more like a cup final as the 200 plus Walden supporters celebrated with the players and good camaraderie as Walden and Enfield players mixed for team photos as they knew they had participated in a unique experience that we can only thank our hosts for giving everyone this great opportunity.
Next week Walden get back to normal as they travel to Norwich.