Enfield Ignatians under-14s suffered a 27-12 home defeat to Epping Upper Clapton on Saturday.

The side leaked two early tries as they were caught napping in the early exchanges and some poor tackling before the break saw them fall further behind for a half-time score of 17-0.

The game evened out as a contest in the second half, with both teams claiming two tries apiece – Ignatians’ coming through Eric Nagy and Sam Dell.

After the game, head coach Kevin Linnane said: “We picked from a squad of 19 but there were 10 changes in the squad compared to last time [against Ruislip B], and six of the players were having their first game of the season.

“We also played a few players out of position as we wanted to see how they would cope. Taking this into account, I’m happy with the performance.”