Enfield Ignatians lost in the dying minutes of their match against Welwyn as they were beaten 22-19 in the London Two North West league.

Ignatians were caught cold in the early minutes of their match after leaking a converted try but they quickly rallied together and a pushover score from prop Matt Pollard brought them to within two points, before they conceded a second try on the stroke of half-time.

A seven-point half-time deficit doubled to 14 points in the early minutes of the second half after the away side's failure to field the restart saw the ball spilled forward and Welwyn capitalised to work-in Chris Kemp.

Aaron James-Nicholls received a yellow card but Ignatians didn’t give up without a fight and gained tries from Luke Stack and Robert Rigby, both of which were well converted by Tim Yaworski, levelled matters at 19-19.

But the Ignatians conceded a last-minute penalty after a player failed to support his own weight.

This meant that Welwyn were afforded a final chance to successfully nail the game, leaving the blue and golds the scant consolation of a losing bonus point.

Coach Ali Cook said: “It was commendable that we were able to get on the front foot again after conceding early in the second half, for it would have been so easy to roll over at that point.

“However, we need to eradicate those involuntary periods of the game when we seem to switch off. It cost us today and it cost us against Hampstead.

“At times we played a little too much rugby and need to be a bit more savvy at times and play in the right areas of the field.”