Author Archives: Paul Clarke

It gives us huge pleasure to announce that our upcoming U20 games at home against Moseley U20 and away against Nottingham U20 will be sponsored by 2 old friends and supporters of the Academy.

Mark Hissey of MH Construction Services Ltd will sponsor match day supplements and a Man of the Match award for our game against Moseley at Vallis Way on Saturday 19th December, kick off at 11:30.

Rodger and Jan Hitchcock of New World Interiors will generously sponsor the squads travel to our away fixture against Nottingham on January 2nd as well as match day supplements and a Man of the Match award.

John Lacey said “Mark, Rodger and Jan have long been generous supporters of the Academy and we are really grateful of their continued support, it makes a massive difference to the players to see this kind of investment in their performance, on behalf of everyone involved with the Academy I’d like to thank them and look forward to sharing a festive drink with them!”

Monday night saw the Academy reach the fantastic landmark of 1000 hours of rugby coaching delivery this season, this is a huge achievement but more importantly means we are now engaged with a large number of players across 3 age groups, a talent ID and development programme and more recently moved outside the club environment with a local school rugby programme.

Academy Director John Lacey said “this milestone illustrates just how far we have come in 4 seasons, from 10 lads to well over 100 under our banner is a massive achievement in spite of constant concerns over player engagement and retention, I’m very proud of what our players and coaches have achieved in this time. We have increased the club’s representation at County level, Divisional trials, gaining recognition at age group International level and our older players are beginning to make headway at National League level. We of course have to remain flexible and constantly reflect on what works and what doesn’t and be prepared make improvements at every opportunity. I’d like to take this opportunity to thank all the players and coaches who have been involved with the Academy on our journey to this point and look forward to growing and improving together in the future.”

Middlesex U20 0-53 Ealing Trailfinders Academy U20

The Academy travelled the short distance to Staines RFC to take on Middlesex U20 in a friendly fixture under lights and despite atrocious weather conditions played some excellent rugby and recorded a memorable victory.

High winds and the County forwards dominated the first 10 minutes of the game with almost exclusive possession and territory meaning the Academy’s defence was tested to the limit. As time passed, nerves settled and the tide began to turn, some good individual efforts saw us out of our 22 and into Middlesex territory.

Outside centre Chris Hitchcock was the first to score, quickly followed by mid-field partner Luca Townshend and Tyler Bush got on the sheet, all converted by fly half Yun Shun Luk. The half was finished off with a fine try by impressive full back Lewis Steadman showing a great turn off pace despite the late kick off and coming straight off the train from Manchester.

The thoughts at half time were of the ability to still play an ambitious attacking game and maintain accuracy in spite of the conditions.

The second half was no anticlimax, Tim Hitchcock made it a good night for the family with a try converted by Luk. The Academy pack were now dominant in attack and defence providing great ball for the back line who despite the mud looked threatening whenever they had the ball.

Flanker Joe Batt scored his first try for the Club followed by skipper and man of the match, No8 Marcus Lowe. Replacement centre Ellis MacCausland scored the penultimate try with a great break, offload and support run, leaving winger Louis Walker the honour of completing the scoring with another good try set up by U18 full back Nathan Vogt.

A few mentions have to be made to Nyall Wake, Yun Shun Luk and Lewis Steadman for making the journey back from University in Reading, Manchester and Brighton respectively. Congratulations to Academy U18 players Lewis Ellingham and Josh Steadman continuing their development with the older age groups and to fellow U18’s Funbi Osuntoki and Nathan Vogt and the youngest player on show U17 winger Reon Joseph.

A big thank you from the coaches to all the squad for their decision to include front row forward Funbi Osuntoki who’s age will exclude him from propping at older age groups before April. The collective decision to do whatever it took to get him involved means a ‘work experience’ opportunity in the second row until then, leaps like a tin of salmon but pushes well…..

Finally a look ahead to our next fixture, we take on fellow non RFU funded Championship Academy, Moseley on Saturday 19th December at Vallis Way, kick off is 11:30, it would be great to see as many supporters there as possible.

See you at training!

Ealing Trailfinders Academy

Steadman L, Adeleke, Hitchcock C, Townshend, Walker, Luk, Steadman J, Lowe, Bush, Batt, Martin, Ellingham, Vosabalavu, Joyce, Hitchcock T

Replacements

March, Day, Young, Osuntoki, Leonard-Fox, Wake, McCausland-Swan, Joseph, Vogt

Scorers

Tries – Hitchcock C, Townshend, Bush, Steadman L, Hitchcock T, Batt, Lowe, McCausland, Walker

Cons- Luk (4)

The Academy are really excited to announce the addition of a further fixture to our programme for this season.

Middlesex U20 join the Army, Royal Navy and UK Armed Forces as further representative opposition, and presents a great chance for our players to measure themselves against some of the best players in the County.

The game will take place on Friday 27th November at Staines RFC, kick off will be at 19:30.

We would love to see as many of you as possible supporting the boys.

Congratulations to Senior Academy scrum half Shai Hacohen who today represents Israel as they take on Croatia in the European Nations Cup.
Shai joined the Academy this season on recommendation from Russell Earnshaw who coached him with the Israel 7s programme.
John Lacey said “Shai joined us this season, moving to England showed huge commitment and he has worked very hard with Steve Neville on his conditioning and Tom Gammage on his passing. I’m really pleased for Shai to receive this great honour to represent his country, I’m sure everyone in the Academy and all at Ealing Trailfinders will join me wishing him luck today”

Ealing Trailfinders Academy have announced further expansion to the Schools programme launched earlier this year.
Drayton Manor School in Hanwell are the latest school to join us and we are really pleased to work with another state school who want to develop their rugby programme.
Academy Director John Lacey said “Joining up with Drayton Manor is a great step forward for our Schools programme, we have a lot of players in the Academy and our Emerging Player Group who are pupils there and we would like to grow stronger links between us and the School. Our support is slightly different to Elthorne Park, at Drayton we are delivering short blocks of after school sessions in support of Paul Bowman and the rugby staff. This partnership has received huge support from Sportivate, London Sport and has been driven by JC Lacour from the club. We are really close to another exciting development with this programme which just keeps growing. It works on all level, both for the club and our partner schools but also with us being able to use some Senior Academy players who gain valuable coaching experience and provides a relevance to rugby for young people.”