Enfield Ignatians fell to their fourth consecutive defeat on Saturday, losing 26-10 against Basildon and slipping to ninth in the London Two North-East table.

The Blue and Golds had won 22-5 at Basildon earlier in the season. But the boot was on the other foot this time as the visitors, a motivated side fighting for their life, capitalised on a lethargic first-half showing from Ignatians to go 19-0 up following a try Ben White and a brace from Jonathan Bonnett.

The Ignatians' much-changed line-up struggled in the set-piece and when they did get the width on their game they craved, their poor choice of options undid some promising approach work.

Playing up the slope in the second period, Ignatians did well to keep Basildon at bay and they pulled to within nine points of the visitors after scoring a well-taken try which originated from within their own 22 after an attack by the Essex side broke down.

Jack Wilson, relishing his role of interceptor-in-chief, was quick to hare his way up-field. Sensing he didn't have the legs to go all the way, the full-back unleashed a kick which took play to within yards of the Basildon line.

Some sterling foraging work by Ignatians enabled the Blue and Golds to regain possession and after recycling quickly, the home side carved a simple overlap which enabled vice-captain Keir Bonnar to go in under the sticks.

Jordan Wilson stroked over the conversion from in front of the sticks before adding a penalty, as the Blue and Golds continued to up their workrate.

Sadly, there was no happy ending for Ignatians.

Instead, further salt was rubbed into the wounds after some good work from the Basildon midfield enabled White to slip through for his brace after a vital tackle was missed, as the visitors wrapped up the bonus point.

Coach Emile Hertz pulled np punches in his assessment and said: "We had to accommodate a number of changes. As we were struggling in the scrum in the first-half, we had no real platform from which to launch our backline. It all felt very flat and I thought we were a bit complacent."

Ignatians are away to Rochford Hundred in their penultimate league game of the season on Saturday.

Two tries from a tonic George Barker conveyed some respectability to the scoreline after Ignatians Seconds lost 58-10 to Hertford Thirds in the Herts-Middlesex Merit Table One play-offs.

The Under-13s completed their final league programme in Herts-Middlesex Division Four on Sunday, suffering an agonising last-minute 24-19 defeat against visiting Datchworth.

Akin James, Jamal Daley-Bonner and Louis Welby scored the tries with Ryan Loo adding two conversions.