Enfield Ignatians made a losing start to their London 3 North West campaign with a 21-10 defeat against Old Streetonians at Hackney Marshes.

Jake Bates added the conversion to Liam Dunne’s early try and kicked in a penalty both before the break, but it was mostly the indiscipline showed by Ignatians that was their undoing.

The Blues and Golds went 3-0 behind early on for offside but after Dunne went over from a maul and Bates converted, they found themselves 7-3 up.

However, a pair of penalties from the Streetonians fly-half put them back ahead before they capitalised on Jack Wilson’s mis-placed kick to counter-attack and extend their lead to 16-7.

Ignatians managed to trim the deficit before the interval when Streetonians strayed offside in their own 22, allowing Bates to find the target once more with a kick.

The second-half turned out to be further disappointment for Ignatians, who were dominated territorially and lacked any bite when going forward.

One positive, however, was the quality of their set scrums and ability to force the turnover, which managed to keep the scoring at a premium for the second period.

However, when Sam Emery went off with suspected concussion, there proved to be no way back. A telegraphed pass from Bates was intercepted by Streetonians, and they powered forward to go over for another try which, unconverted, finished Ignatians off at 21-10.

After the game, head coach Shane Manning said: “It goes without saying that we’re a lot better than that. I will be speaking to the players but we need to draw a line under this game and move on quickly.”

Next up for Ignatians is the visit of Kilburn Cosmos to Donkey Lane this Saturday.