Author Archives: Paul Clarke

Ealing Trailfinders were unable to make a winning start to life in the Greene King IPA Championship when they went down 44-13 to London Scottish.

Andy Hall scored two penalties and a conversion, while Phil Chesters made history as the first Ealing player to score a try in the second tier, but it wasn’t enough against an Exiles side who used their experience to great effect at Allianz Park.

Barely a minute was on the clock when Ealing were given the chance to open the scoring when the Exiles were penalised early on. Fullback Hall duly obliged from the kicking tee to score Trailfinders’ first ever points in the Championship.

Scottish came back and while fly-half Dan Newton pulled his first penalty wide, his side were in the lead by the 10 minute mark. After a series of drives from the pack wing Miles Mantella cut an angle, took Newton’s inside pass and ran in the Exiles’ first points that Newton converted.

Hall’s second penalty brought Ealing back into touching distance and after a blustery opening period the match settled into a rhythm with both packs trying to assert themselves on the match and backs trying to find their way through dogged defence.

Newton stretched Scottish’s lead with a penalty right in front of the posts and they extended it further still 10 minutes from the half when their captain Mark Bright powered down the right wing and popped the ball inside to right-wing Mike Doneghan who ran into the corner.

Ealing came close to closing the deficit early in the second half when Hall went for the posts from well inside his own half; while he had the distance – well over half the pitch – the ball drifted just wide.

Soon after though the men in green made a breakthrough when Chesters capitalised on good work from at a scrum to race away down the left to score, with Hall adding the conversion from out wide.

Newton extended Scottish’s lead though with another penalty before replacement scrumhalf Jordi Pasqualin broke from the back of a scrum to score. His fellow substitute Joe Trayfoot then went over for two late scores to add gloss to the Exiles’ victory.

Phil Chesters went over to score Ealing Trailfinders first try in the Championship

With two days to go until Ealing Trailfinders kick off their debut season in the Greene King IPA Championship vice-captain Thomas ‘TJ’ Anderson cannot wait to get the season going.

The Number 8 joined Trailfinders over the close season from Irish province Connacht and has settled into life in Vallis Way seamlessly. Now with the match against London Scottish on Saturday fast approaching, he is ready to help Mike Cudmore’s team hit the ground running and build on their five pre-season victories.

“I feel as a new team to the Championship many would perceive our goal this year is to stay up in the Championship, however I feel we have the ability, skill and style of play that will enable us to perform well in the Championship and push all teams,” Anderson said.

“Everyone is super energised and eager to get the Championship season underway; I feel the new challenge and the unknown of the Championship will bring the best out from our squad.”

The first XV squad have already had a taste of what is to come having trained at Allianz Park on Monday. Saracens’ 10,000-capacity has been chosen as the venue for the London Double Header and following Ealing’s 13.00 kick-off London Welsh take on Bedford Blues.

The session allowed the players to become accustomed to playing on the 4G artificial turf that has won rave reviews from players and spectators alike for the liberating effect it has had on the 2011 champions’ style of play.

“I am truly excited ahead of the London Scottish game, having trained at the venue and to be playing on Saturday in the double header is the best way to start any season,” Anderson added.

“I also feel that having trained hard as a team throughout preseason and performed well in our preseason friendlies, we are now mentally focused for our first match of the season and I can’t wait to get going.”

For the 26-year-old Anderson the decision to join Trailfinders was quickly followed by being appointed as one of two vice-captains, along with centre Chris Kinloch.

He previously played for Ulster, his home province and is now hoping to use his experience to help Ealing start the season in the best way possible and build on their past success.

“I feel I can bring a bit of experience from various rugby scenarios I’ve been through and apply the professional attitude I learned at my previous clubs to the team,” he said.

“I have never felt so welcomed into a team before and I have been loving every minute of the London life especially in W13. I have instantly felt a great buzz and connection between the players and I have no doubt it is this connection the players have that has led them to be so successful over the years.”

Ealing Trailfinders’ captain Adam Preocanin (right) and his London Scottish counterpart Mark Bright

Ealing Trailfinders’ captain Adam Preocanin got an early look of who he and the club will be up against in their debut season in the Greene King IPA Championship, after he represented the Club at the tournament’s official launch.

Preocanin was one of 12 captains who posed for photos and spoke to members of the press – including BBC London and ITV – during the event at The St Margaret’s Inn, just a short walk from Twickenham Stadium.

The event gave Preocanin a taste of what is to come once the league kicks off on Saturday 14 September, when Trailfinders play London Scottish at Allianz Park.

“The Greene King IPA Championship launch was a great experience to showcase the league and the new sponsor; it was also an opportunity for me to talk to the other captains and learns about their team’s pre-season exploits,” he said.

“It’s apparent that there’s a real buzz around the competition this year, with Greene King IPA coming aboard, as well as the added TV coverage by Sky. With the added exposure, along with the brand of rugby that we play, I’m sure we will attract a lot of interest over the coming season.”

There were a number of famous faces at the event, including Preocanin’s rival captain’s Tom May of London Welsh and James Grindal of Bristol Rugby as well as Bristol Director of Rugby Andy Robinson.

This season is a historic one for the Championship, after it secured sponsorship for the first time in its history and RFU Professional Rugby Director Rob Andrew was on hand to welcome the players and underline what a big season 2013-14 will be for all involved.

“Only five years ago, we were launching the first season of the Championship at Twickenham and signalling a new second tier of professional rugby,” he said. “Now we are approaching the fifth season of the competition and under a new sponsor in Greene King IPA.

“The Championship continues to produce exciting young talent, and we have seen a number of those players go onto the international stage, with the 2013 British & Irish Lions and England U20s Junior World Championship squads both containing Championship players.

“It is clear to see the positive impact the second tier of professional rugby has on the game in this country.”

ETRC captain Adam Preocanin met his counterparts from the 11 other Championship clubs

It has been a long five months on the sidelines for Ealing Trailfinders wing Phil Chesters after he was hit by a car at the end of March, but now he can look forward to competing for a place in Ealing Trailfinders’ opening Greene King IPA Championship match against London Scottish on 14 September.

The accident and his convalescence, that included a week in St Mary’s Paddington, meant he was a spectator when the team won promotion from National 1 to the Green King IPA Championship, but with less than two weeks to go before the club make their debut in professional rugby’s second tier, he is starting to show the form that made him a fans’ favourite at Vallis Way.

After a run-out for a development team on 24 August he was rewarded with a starting place in the team that took on Old Albanian in the fifth and final pre-season fixture and showed he has lost none of his trying prowess by running in the third try of seven in the match.

“I didn’t really know if I was going to be involved from the start of the season,” he said. “So for me being here and potentially being in the frame for selection for that game with Scottish is great.”

Chesters was an integral part of the team that won promotion from National South 1 and then National 1. Three seasons ago he ran in 70 tries and followed that up with 42 in the first season in National 1. Even before his accident he had already run in 29 tries in 23 matches before his season was cut short.

Against OAs it was Ealing’s back-three who ran in the first three tries; first off Chester’s fellow wing Owen Bruynseels dived to catch Ben Ward’s cross-kick to open the scoring and then fullback Andy Hall found a gap in the OAs defence to run in the second before Chesters got in on the act.

It was a clear sign that Ealing Trailfinders are going to be committed to the attacking, expansive game-plan that has served them well so far in their ascent up the leagues.

“We’re sticking to our word and that’s a good thing,” the 25-year-old said. “With the quality we’ve got in the back three, we love getting our hands on the ball. We always have in the last few seasons and it is a testament to the guys up front who are getting us that ball.”

There have been a lot of new faces at Vallis Way over the summer as Director of Rugby Mike Cudmore strengthened his squad for the season ahead.

While most people were sunning themselves on holiday the players were hard at work preparing for the new season after just a week off. The benefit was clear over pre-season as the team won all five of their seven fixtures, with the last two featuring seven tries apiece.

“It is gelling really well,” Chesters said. “We’ve had a lot of pre-season sessions, we’ve done a couple of socials and team-building exercises. Obviously it will take a bit longer than this 10-12 week period, but the guys have fitted in really well and bought into the ethos and the club is going to go from strength to strength.

“We are going into a league full of challenges and somewhere we’ve never been before. It was like that when we came up to National 1; it is going to be really exciting and we are just going to throw anything at it.”

Chesters was back on the scoresheet on his return against OAs

Ealing Trailfinders Rugby Club are delighted to announce that Nutrition X, a British based company that specialises in HFL tested supplement products to sports athletes, has joined the Club as their official nutrition supplier.

All Club Members have the opportunity to buy through them. There is a 30% discount code and when you set up an account on your first order you will receive loyalty points with each purchase thereafter, which you can build up in order to receive more discount on future orders. The discount code is FINDERS30; you just need to submit this at checkout before you proceed to the payment process at http://www.nutritionx.co.uk/

“We are looking forward to working with Nutrition X over the forthcoming season. Their products are all HFL tested and in our short dealings with them have been very impressed with all the products they offer and the support they supply,” Director of Rugby Mike Cudmore said.

Nutrition X was recently supplier to Gloucester Rugby and is the current supplier to Wakefield Trinity WildCats Rugby League and Yorkshire County Cricket. They also supply Clubs in the Barclay’s Premiership, npower Championship, The FA Women’s Super League, Rugby League’s Super League and Championship League and Rugby Union’s French Top 14.

Nutrition X has all products ‘HFL Tested’ to ensure that athletes competing in regular sport are taking accredited, safe and recognised nutritional products. The products have been formulated by some of the top nutritionists in the UK and are designed for athletes participating in regular sport and training.

It is their nutritionists vast knowledge and experience that has brought what many believe to be the most specific sports nutrition range to the market place in the form of the Nutrition X Range. They offer this small but precise product range, to make sure athletes don’t have to worry about having a variety of products to choose from for the same training goal. 

Ealing Trailfinders were made to work hard by Old Albanian to round off pre-season with a fifth win from five, but by the final whistle they had crossed for seven tries in a 43-21 victory.

The club now have two weeks to prepare for their first match of the season, against London Scottish on 14 September at Allianz Park.

“Five wins is what we were after, but in some aspects it is how you do it,” captain Adam Preocanin said. “That is what we have to look forward to do, to work on those things we need to work on because no-one plays a perfect game. So we have two weeks to do that.”

The host defence was quickly put under pressure by OAs. The Hertfordshire side dominated possession and nearly opened the scoring on 10 minutes when Danny Holmes put Chris May away, but wing Owen Bruynseels stopped the danger with a vital cover tackle.

A minute later Ealing flanker Ed Siggery won a penalty in the shadow of the Ealing Trailfinders posts and after Ben Ward cleared the danger Phil Chesters broke the OAs defence. Good work from the forward pack gave the backline quick ball and from Ward’s cross-kick Bruynseels took a diving catch to score.

OAs responded and were soon in the lead. From a turnover they worked the ball wide quickly and No.8 Andrew Daish dived over for a try that full-back Richard Gregg converted.

Once again the lead changed hands quickly. A slashing break through the middle allowed vice-captain Chris Kinloch to stretch his legs and full-back Andy Hall was on his shoulder to take a pass, run in and then convert his own score.

As the half wore on the hosts took greater control of the match; Siggery nearly capitalised when Gregg mis-judged a Stuart Commins box-kick, before Chesters showed he hadn’t lost his nose for the try-line in his first match back from injury by rounding off another counter-attack to put Ealing Trailfinders 17-7 ahead at the break.

Five months ago he was hit by a moving car, but has battled back to full fitness and showed he will be a threat in the Championship.

“It is like I’ve never been away,” Chesters said. “We played last week in a second XV game and that dusted off a lot of the rust, but today it was really good to get out there and see how it went.”

It didn’t take the home side long to stretch the lead after half-time. Ward poked a grubber kick down the right wing and Kinloch brushed off the OAs cover defence to reach the ball first.

As the match wore on both teams continued to run the ball and spread play wide OAs wing Will Smith went close before second row Maro Itoje twice crashed over from close range to reward OAs commitment to attacking rugby.

Once again Ealing hit back and ended the match with a flourish with tries from England U20 captain Jack Clifford and substitute Andrew Henderson.

“We need to string all the good things we did together and cut out those things we did poorly and that will stand us in good stead for the season,” Preocanin said.

“If we get quick ball we are incredibly dangerous, but it is getting to that stage consistently and putting teams under pressure. We just need to get that quick ball.”

Ealing Trailfinders welcomed National 1 side Henley Hawks to Vallis Way for a Friday night clash under the lights and were ruthless in a seven-try performance to win 42-0.

With just over a fortnight until the team make their Green King IPA Championship debut the side were out to add a fourth victory in four pre-season fixtures and did so in emphatic style.

After a nervy opening few minutes from both teams, Ealing Trailfinders took an iron grip on the match and held it to the end of a first 40 minutes in which three forwards and three backs ran in a try apiece.

The second half was more disjointed, but after Henley raised their performance it was Ealing Trailfinders’ defence that came to the fore and after repelling a number of Henley attacks it was the home team who scored the only points of the second period.

“It was fun in the first half and we played pretty well,” fly-half Will Magie said. “In the games I’ve been involved in that was our best performance in the first half. In the second half we got to test out our ‘D’ a bit and Henley came at us pretty hard.”

Hooker Sam Wilkes was the first to cross the whitewash from a maul and with Magie converting and adding a penalty Ealing Trailfinders were soon 10-0 ahead.

After a scintillating break from deep, fullback Andrew Henderson released Sam Randell on the left-wing and after he had carried the ball deeper into the Henley half, he popped the ball back inside for the supporting Henderson to run in unopposed.

Shortly before the half-hour mark the forwards were back in the action with tries from prop Jordan Saunders and No.8 Sam Hocking, before wing Sam Wardingley and centre Tom Wheatcroft rounded off the half with tries after attacks from deep had punched holes in the Henley defence.

In the second half the emphasis switched to defence and despite Henley throwing everything at Trailfinders’ line for 15 minutes, the defence held its shape and didn’t let anything through.

“We had to keep our composure and not give away any penalties,” Magie said. “We just kept on going forward.”

Eventually Ealing Trailfinders swiftly turned defence into attack and flanker Alex Bradley raced away to score the first points of the second period.

Ealing Trailfinders now take on Old Albanian on Saturday 31 August aiming to wrap up their fifth and final pre-season match before the Championship season begins on Saturday 14 September against London Scottish at Allianz Park.

“We’ve got one more tomorrow so it will be good to see the lads get out there and get that fifth win,” Magie said. “We want to keep building to that first game. Everyone is pushing for those starting places in the squad of 23 so there is a good feeling in the camp right now.”