Barnet Saracens Elizabethans 6 Enfield Ignatians 16
London Division Three North West

Barnet slipped to an opening-day defeat against their old rivals at Byng Road on Saturday.

The visitors deserved the win, but it took them until the final quarter of this disjointed encounter before they got their noses in front.

Barnet never really controlled the game and fed off scraps throughout. Only some fine defending by Paul Nash and James Spragg kept the Ignatians at bay for so long.

Neither could prevent the decisive try as that was a driving forward roll on the hour mark.

The hosts were the first to strike. Costas Harris, on his debut, kicked an early penalty before adding a second midway through the first half. In between, Enfield kicked one of their own to level.

It meant Barnet led 6-3 at the break, but the visitors edged in front after the interval and went on to claim the points. Barnet travel to Haringey this Saturday.

u Finchley gained a convincing 45-6 victory over London French in their final pre-season friendly.

They are now looking forward to Saturday's opening league clash with old rivals Mill Hill at Summers Lane (kick-off 3pm).

Finchley raced into a 10-0 half-time lead on Saturday, thanks to a James Webb penalty and a Richard Minnis try.

But they really found their feet in the second half. Soon after the restart, full-back Luke Mitchell followed up his first try with a second from an 80-metre run.

With London French on their knees, Finchley applied even more pressure.

Webb and captain Dean Mitchell gained intercept tries, while James Baker also got on to the scoresheet after running 50m following a quickly-taken penalty.

Hendon went down 28-0 in a friendly against Kilburn Cosmos. Hendon take on Old Ashmoleans in their first league game this Saturday.