Author Archives: Paul Clarke

Ealing Trailfinders scored seven tries on their way to a convincing win against Old Albanian on Saturday.

Ben Ward’s side scored four times before halftime to ensure that they returned home with a bonus point win, though OA’s fightback midway through the second half meant they had to maintain their focus to the end when captain Tom Brown wrapped up the victory with a try on the stroke of the fulltime whistle.

Former Ealing Trailfinders player and youth team product Will Magie started the match and moments later opened the score with a well struck penalty.

Ealing Trailfinders’ scrum carried on their excellent work from a year ago and from one squeeze won a penalty that James Love struck narrowly wide from the OA 10-metre line.

After both teams enjoyed the chance to attack Ealing Trailfinders took the lead through more good work by the forward pack.

Debutant Michael Walker-Fitton caught the line out and as the pack drove forward with Arthur Ellis tucked in the back, ready to add to his two tries from last week, the OA pack infringed, brought down the maul and the referee awarded a penalty try that Love had no problem converting.

Good attacking play by the OA three-quarters took them close to Ealing Trailfinder’s 22 and after an infringement at a ruck Magie hit his second penalty to bring the hosts to within one point.

From the restart Tom Wheatcroft broke the OA line with some sharp footwork, but after linking up with Ellis was adjudged to have passed forward to Brown.

Soon after though Brown scored his first try for the club when he picked up from the back of the scrum and powered his way through the OA defence.

Phil Chesters grabbed his first try of the season with a classic poacher’s effort when he picked off a loose pass to run in unopposed. He added a second soon after when Alex Walker took a quick tap from a penalty, flung the ball wide to his left from where Chesters raced home to the corner from the halfway line.

Ealing Trailfinders picked up where they left off after halftime and almost immediately Love broke the line and while he off-loaded to Brown, the captain was unable to control the pass with the line beckoning.

However, Danny Kenny scored the visitor’s fifth minutes later. Matt Jarvis wiggled free in midfield to pop a pass that allowed the Dubliner a straightforward run in to score.

OA hit back immediately when Billy Johnson charged down Walker’s kick and had the easy task of collecting the ball to drop over the line for a score that Elliott Reeder converted.

It boosted OA’s confidence and Johnson was again the beneficiary when he found a kink in Ealing Trailfinders to add another try that Reeder again converted. Wing Mike Allan then found space to go over and with Reeder adding a conversion and penalty the hosts drew to within three points.

Ealing Trailfinders calmed down and began to build their phases. It was a plan that worked well and twice the pack managed to gain valuable yards with the driving maul. On the second the ball went through the hands and prop Alex Penny was popped up on Wheatcroft’s shoulder to plunge over the line.

As the clock wound down there was one last chance for the forwards to flex their muscles and drive their opposite numbers backwards to allow Brown to score his second.

Old Albanian
Ollie Marchon, Chris May, Jimmy Spiers, Max Wilkins, Mike Allan, Will Magie, Jordi Pasqualin; Charlie Hughes, George Warner, Biyi Alo, Ross Hamilton, Billy Johnson (captain), Jacob Conner, Ollie Copper-Millar, Don Barrell
Reserves
Mungo Strachan, Andy Berry, Nick Stevens, Jack Daly, Elliott Reeder
Scorers
Tries (Johnson 47, 51, Allan 60), Conversions (Reeder 48, 52, 61), Penalties (Magie 2, 22)
Ealing Trailfinders
James Love, Chris Kinloch, Ronnie McLean, Tom Wheatcroft, Phil Chesters, Matt Jarvis, Alex Walker; Will Davis, Andrei Radoi, Nathan Buck, Carwyn Jones, Michael Walker-Fitton, Danny Kenny, Arthur Ellis, Tom Brown (captain)
Reserves
Kevin Davis, Alex Penny, Llewelyn Jones, Alex Bradley, Ben Ward
Scorers
Tries (Penalty 17, Brown 26, 78, Chesters 30, 32, Kenny 45, Penny 69), Conversions (Love 18, 28, 30, 70, 78)

Referee – Veryan Boscawen

Michael Walker-Fitton and Will Davis will make their Ealing Trailfinders debut when the team travels to face Old Albanian on Saturday.

Walker-Fitton will pack down in the second row alongside Carwyn Jones, while Davis starts at loose-head prop alongside Romanian international hooker Andrei Radoi and tight-head prop Nathan Buck.

Buck is one of three players to make his first start of the season having come off the bench in the 22-10 win at home to Loughborough Students a week ago that marked the start of the 2014-15 season.

Danny Kenny and James Love are the other two players who will start an Ealing Trailfinders league match for the first time.

Irish flanker Kenny will form a back row with captain and number 8 Tom Brown and flanker Arthur Ellis, who scored twice in the win against Loughborough.

Love will wear the number 15 jersey at fullback. Matt Jarvis, who played fullback against Loughborough moves to fly-half, where he will form an all-Welsh halfback pairing with Alex Walker.

The three-quarter line remains the same as a week ago; Tom Wheatcroft and Ronnie McLean form the centre pairing, while Phil Chesters and Chris Kinloch line up on the wings.

Ealing Trailfinders v Old Albanian, Woollham’s Playing Fields, 3pm
1 Will Davis
2 Andrei Radoi
3 Nathan Buck
4 Carwyn Jones
5 Mike Walker-Fitton
6 Danny Kenny
7 Arthur Ellis
8 Tom Brown ©
9 Alex Walker
10 Matt Jarvis
11 Phil Chesters
12 Tom Wheatcroft
13 Ronnie McLean
14 Chris Kinloch
15 James Love
Reserves
16 Kevin Davis
17 Alex Penny
18 Llewelyn Jones
19 Alex Bradley
20 Ben Ward

Alex Penny was able to look back on a satisfying competitive debut for Ealing Trailfinders as he and the rest of the forward pack out-muscled Loughborough Students in a 22-10 bonus-point win.

All four tries came through the forwards; the first two came after the pack drove flanker Arthur Ellis over the line from a catch and drive from a lineout, prop Kevin Davis pounced on a loose ball for the third and then the pack won a penalty try from a driven scrummage on the Loughborough line.

“A five point start is what was needed, it was a tough game, they’re a fit team and played hard and disrupted the way we wanted to play,” he said.

“There are a lot of new boys have come into the team this year and we had a long pre-season, so it is just great to get out and set a marker.”

Penny was one of eight newcomers to Vallis Way that started the match, with five more coming off the interchange bench.

It meant that while the team were able to claim the victory, there is still plenty for them to work around in the coming week before the away match with Old Albanian.

“It was very scrappy and we need to clean up the breakdown as we weren’t tight enough,” he said. “We didn’t protect Alex Walker as much as we could have and didn’t have clean enough ball for the backs and they played a pretty strong blitz defence.

“We played a bit narrower than we wanted, but certainly the forward pack dominated throughout the game and it paid off towards the end. We had a couple of lineout and a scrum penalty try and you can’t really ask for anything more.”

Ealing Trailfinders started their season with a five-point win over a dogged Loughborough Students side who fought hard for the entire 80 minutes and ensured that Ben Ward’s side couldn’t relax at all throughout the match.

After the match settled down following the initial exchanges it was the home side that scored first and they did so in simple fashion. Carwyn Jones took a good lineout catch, the pack drove him towards the line and with the ball working its way back local lad Arthur Ellis had the simple task of touching down.

Loughborough responded immediately though. Centre Rhys Owen broke through the Ealing defence and while he was stopped from reaching the line by Alex Walker, England U20 scrum-half Henry Taylor was on hand to fire the recycled ball wide to wing William Edwards who had an easy run into the corner.

Owen then increased their lead when he swooped onto a Ben Ward pass and raced away from his 22 to score.

Ealing Trailfinders settled down though and began to attack through the phases with the forwards leading the way and eventually their efforts were rewarded.

The pack won a penalty from a scrum when they managed to gather momentum with their drive. Gary Johnson caught Andrei Radoi’s lineout throw and again Ellis was at the back of the drive to dot down.

As the half wore on Edwards came close to racing away after he had wiggled free from Ealing’s defence, but Walker and Phil Chesters bundled him into touch.

It was then Chesters who went close when he chased down a Danny Kenny clearance, but he was unable to gather the ball with the line at his mercy and the teams went in at half-time tied at 10 apiece.

Ealing’s forwards again took an early grip on proceedings and three times they came close to a third catch and drive try having won a scrum penalty.

However, after Nathan Buck showed a good turn of pace his front row partner Kevin Davis was on hand to collect the recycled ball and drive over.

The pack continued to exert their dominance and from another catch and drive they mauled their way from the halfway line, but after crossing the Loughborough whitewash Danny Kenny was ruled to have been held up.

From the scrum they twice tried to push their opposite numbers over for a score and on the second attempt the referee whistled for a penalty try that James Love converted easily to wrap up the result.

Ealing Trailfinders
Matt Jarvis, Chris Kinloch, Ronnie McLean, Tom Wheatcroft, Phil Chesters, Ben Ward, Alex Walker; Jamie Kilbane, Andrei Radoi, Alex Penny, Carwyn Jones, Gary
Johnson, Sean O’Connell, Arthur Ellis, Tom Brown (captain)
Reserves
Kevin Davis, Nathan Buck, Llewelyn Jones, Danny Kenny, James Love
Loughborough Students
Jack Pons, William Edwards, Rhys Owen, Jack Bradford, Jonny Short, Joshua Sharp, Henry Taylor; Harry Rudkin, Isaac Miller, Harry Elrington, Jacob Albon, John Collister, Matthew Rogerson, James Freeman (captain), Edward Taylor
Reserves
Jacon Fields, Nathan Higgins, Adam Peters, Simon Sexton, Jack Wardle

Referee – Robert Warburton
Attendance – 320

Eight new players are in the Ealing Trailfinders team that Director of Coaching Ben Ward has selected to take on Loughborough Students in the season opening match on Saturday.

Captain Tom Brown will link up with fellow newcomer Arthur Ellis in the back row that is completed by the familiar of face of former youth team player Sean O’Connell.

Further forward in the pack, props Jamie Kilbane and Alex Penny pack down either side of Romanian international Andrei Radoi, while behind them two other summer arrivals – Gary Johnson and Carwyn Jones – will start in the engine room.

Behind the scrum Welsh pair Alex Walker begins at scrum-half, while Matt Jarvis will run out at fullback.

Elsewhere in the backline there are five players that fans will recognise from last season.

Ward will wear his usual number 10 shirt and outside him Tom Wheatcroft and Ronnie McLean pair up in the centres with Phil Chesters and Chris Kinloch on the wings.

Ealing Trailfinders v Loughborough Students, Vallis Way, 15.00
1 Jamie Kilbane
2 Andrei Radoi
3 Alex Penny
4 Carwyn Jones
5 Gary Johnson
6 Sean O’Connell
7 Arthur Ellis
8 Tom Brown (captain)
9 Alex Walker
10 Ben Ward
11 Phil Chesters
12 Tom Wheatcroft
13 Ronnie McLean
14 Chris Kinloch
15 Matt Jarvis
Reserves
16 Kevin Davis
17 Nathan Buck
18 Llewelyn Jones
19 Danny Kenny
20 James Love

For former youth team player Sean O’Connell and the rest of the Ealing Trailfinders players, the season’s start against Loughborough Students cannot come soon enough.

A new-look Ealing Trailfinders begin life back in National 1 against the team from the East Midlands having spent pre-season hard at work on the field and in the gym to be ready for the big kick off.

“All the boys have bonded well and are pretty excited to be getting stuck in this weekend. Loughborough should be a good chance to throw the ball around and play a bit of rugby,” O’Connell said.

O’Connell joined the Club in November 2013 and quickly became an established member of the team.

He featured in the pre-season home wins over Newport and Bedford Blues and was then rested for the away trip to Moseley that ended in a 20-15 loss.

“We’ve been good,” he added. “The loss away was a bit unfortunate and we could have done a bit more there.

“Against Bedford at home we were pretty solid and there were chances to put away and we did convert most of them. It is just a case of being more clinical this weekend.”

It has been two seasons since Ealing Trailfinders took on Loughborough Students and the men from Vallis Way won both their encounters on their way to promotion to the Greene King IPA Championship.

Loughborough University is highly-regarded as one of the leading sports universities and former players include England internationals Sir Clive Woodward, Andy Robinson and Fran Cotton and Welsh greats John Taylor and Gerald Davies.

They continued that proud record this summer when props Harry Rudkin and Biyi Alo and scrum-half Henry Taylor – played for the England U20 team that retained the IRB Junior World Championship.

With new signings having added to the depth of choice available to Director of Coaching Ben Ward, O’Connell is well aware that he will have to fight hard throughout the season if he wants to keep hold of his shirt from last season.

“It has been very competitive this year and it has been good,” he said. “There are a lot of boys fighting for places and that drives standards up and can only be good for the team.”