On a glorious St George’s day Bancroft RFC colts played Barnet Elizabethans in a friendly fixture at their Buckhurst Way ground. The game marked a terrific journey for the Bancroft colts as they have grown their squad from two players to a full team.

Elizabethans U17's sportingly took on what was predominantly a Bancroft U18's team and a thrilling game ensued.

Bancroft started strongly using the power of their bigger pack to push the Elizabethans defence back. With fine off loading and close support Bancroft were soon on the score sheet when following good work in both the forwards and the backs Victor powered over for a try, duly converted by Jed, to give them an early 7 point lead.

Bancroft front row of Tom, Will T and Brandon had been creating a big shove in the scrums. Unfortunately the Elizabethans prop took a blow to the head whilst defending the try line and had to take no further part in the game. This meant uncontested scrums from that point forward.

Elizabethans used the pace in their backs to stretch the Bancroft defence and force errors. The pace and power of their winger caught Bancroft by surprise and exposed as they brushed off a tackle to score in the corner, 7 - 5.

Elizabethans were now fully in the game and making useful incursions in to the Bancroft half. In trying to break out of defence Bancroft infringed and Elizabethans kicked the penalty to bring it to 7 - 8.

Bancroft were having to work hard to contain a lively opposition and sterling work by Ben and Zahid ground metres up the pitch. The Bancroft back row of Mitchel, Will C and Victor tackled well and made vital turnovers to keep the team in the game.

Zac kept the backs fed with ball but attacks faced a stern Elizabethans defence. Spreading the ball wide was not working so Bancroft reverted to close quarters work and and a fine attack was rewarded with an unconverted try by Victor, 12-13.

A change of tactics saw a few high balls rain down on Bancroft but they fielded them well and counter stacked through Warren and Jed. Arun was sound in defence and started appearing in broken play making several telling thrusts into the opposition half.

The teams seemed evenly matched and both sides had opportunity to score but it was Elizabethans that struck again to extend their lead to 12 - 18.

Rolling subs allowed Jake and Delford to come on for Bancroft. The backs were working well and even an injury to Zac did not upset their rhythm as Alex moved in to scrum half and George came up from fullback to centre.

Elizabethans had the best of the first half and went into halftime with a deserved lead.

Bancroft began the second half well as both teams carried on with exciting play and commitment. Bancroft nearly pulled off some great attacks with a high tempo off-loading game but the high risk was not met with reward as Elizabethans defended well.

Elizabethans attacked out wide but this time the Bancroft defence was up to the challenge and they were not to pass as they were stopped in their tracks with shuddering tackles from Cyrus.

Bancroft were beginning to edge the game but it remained very even. With Jake standing in at fly half the backs showed some good skills to carve a line through the middle and put George over for a try, 17-18.

Elizabethans continued to attack but Bancroft found a way out, a fine example being Delford charging half the length of the pitch before being hauled down. A couple of promising breaks by the Elizabethans were again stopped by solid tackling by Cyrus at full back.

With subs rolling on and off for both teams Bancroft took advantage to use their forward power to score a try by Will C, converted by Jed, 24 - 18. A spectacular break down the wing by Cyrus and Euan saw them interchange passes before Euan scored in the corner despite attention from the Elizabethans defence whom thought they had tackled him into touch, 29 - 18.

With just 4 minutes to play Elizabethans launched a series of attacks pinning Bancroft in their own 22. After several phases, scrums and penalties it looked like time had run out but with the last play they forced their way over in the corner to bring a final score of 29 - 23 to Bancroft.

Bancroft coaches Ollie Leck and Charles Wallace said “The club and we as coaches are proud of the Colts. They have worked hard in training and have built enough numbers to get the team out even though it is nearly the end of the season. We will continue to promote youth rugby at Bancroft”.