Author Archives: Paul Clarke

PREVIEW: Ealing Trailfinders RFC v Taunton RFC – N2S Saturday 15th January 2011

The second half of the season is well under way now, and we welcome for the first time to Vallis Way, Taunton RFC – promoted last season and so far this season they have proved they are a force to be reckoned with.

Taunton currently sit 6th in national 2 South, and today’s fixture with us represents a testing start to 2011 for them. Last week they faced in-form Richmond and came off second best , losing 16-20 as Ross Broadfoot’s boot proved the difference, Taunton’s own kicking machine Gary Kingdom having an off day. Following Saturday’s game they face our opponents of last week Southend.

Their Director or Rugby Lee Waddon was quoted on the clubs website as saying the team faced a make or break month. He said "We face three of the four teams above us in the next three weeks and its a make or break time for us. By the end of the month we’ll know exactly how our season is likely to end".

After Ealing’s "nilling" of Southend last weekend, the squad were extremely pleased with the way things went, especially as they had had a long lay off. Ealing Ealing wing Owen Bruynseels said to the club website after training this week, "Last week was a tough game against a physical Southend side,we were pleased with areas of our game and were obviously pleased with our ability to keep a high scoring team down to nil ".

"The lay off over Christmas was a good time to rest and recover,however it also gave us some time to work and develop key aspects of our game"

So with that in mind, Taunton travel to West London this coming weekend, determined to end the league leader’s 100% home record so far this season. Since the two clubs met back in late September, when we ran our 17-33 winners courtesy of two tries by Phil Chesters, and one from prop Lewis Brown, and Pete Hodgkinson. Neil Hallett adding 13 points from the boot, they have had some decent results. On the road they have lost only two games – by larger margins than they would have expected though! (Henley 36-16 and Jekyll-and-Hyde side OAs 51-18).

Taunton in 2011

Since our meeting last September, Taunton have continued their recruitment drive that began following their promotion to National 2 South last season.

They welcomed to Hyde Park Fijian International Apo Satala . Satala joined in late September from Gloucester , an great exponent of the 7’s game as well. It may well be disappointing that Satala will be missing this weekend, as following a disciplinary held on Tuesday, Satala – following a red card whilst playing against Dings, received a two match ban, subsequently reduced on appeal to one week.

Missing due to injury at the start of this season’s campaign was stand off Tony Yapp – The ex Worcester Warriors, Bedford and Exeter fly half returned to the starting XV for Taunton in early October and began pulling the strings for them!

Charlie Walker Blair is their top try score on 12, followed by Chris Gervais ( – any relation to Ricky? ) on 9.

They have scored 65 tries in total this season ( Ealing on 96) , scoring 31 away from home as well, 12 in the first period and 19 in the second.

Ealing wing Owen Bruynseels said of the Taunton fixture, "We know that Taunton will be another tough physical encounter after the last game,and we are fully expecting another at the weekend,however after a good weeks training we are fully prepared for the game" .

Previous fixtures between Ealing Trailfinders & Taunton

25/09/10 Taunton 17 Ealing Trailfinders 33

Other National 2 South fixtures this weekend:

Canterbury v Old Albanians
Dings Crusaders v Jersey
Henley v Westcombe Park
Lydney v Clifton,
Richmond v Newbury
Southend v Shelford
Worthing v Hinckley

REPORT: Ealing Trailfinders 27 – 0 Southend

They say rugby is a 80 minute game, and the 79th minute try but Ealing’s Neil Hallett only goes to prove that. Ealing were pushed all the way by a determined Southend outfit, but to come away from this table topping National 2 South game having kept a clean sheet, something will be extremely pleasing for the coaches and the team.

Both teams came into this fixture at Vallis Way on Saturday having played no rugby since the start of December, due to the weather conditions, and it took a while for both sides to find their feet, and get into their stride after such a long layoff.

Head coach Kieran Power said to the Rugby Paper after the game, “It was a little bit frustrating to start with, but we were pleased to get the five points in the end.". Power added, “Every game between now and the end of the season is a cup final starting with a difficult game against Taunton next Saturday".

Ealing maintained their 100% home record thanks to some stout defence, and Skipper Ben Ward was full of praise for his side; he said “It was nice to have a week off at Christmas but at the back of our minds we all knew we had a tough fixture against Southend coming up. The lads worked really hard all week at training and apart from a bit of rustiness in being clinical and taking our opportunities we are very pleased with how we played. We know our defence is going to be key this year and it was important to start with a big defensive performance against a good attacking side."

Both teams came out and gave their all in the opening period of the game, and after an early scuffle, referee Andrew Jackson showed yellow cards to Ealing’s hooker Jon Moyce and the visitors’ scrum half Sam Arnott, and they were dispatched to the sin bin.

Ealing’s try scoring hero, wing Phil Chesters scored the game’s opening try after 19 minutes, when after a good attacking phase, outside centre Pete Hodgkinson broke through the Southend defence to offload to Chesters who crossed over in the left hand corner for his 26th try of the season. Hallett was unable to add the conversion.

Southend were slightly unlucky not to go into half time level. Both sides were attempting to play rugby, despite the heavy conditions. On Friday the pitch was covered in surface water, and following sterling work by both the groundsman and home supporters, the pitch was passed playable.

Just before half time a rare attack from the visitors, saw Sid Holt break through and off load to wing Danny Cleare, who crossed the Ealng line. The linesman adjudged the pass to be forward and they were bought back for a scrum .

Following the break, Ealing’s defence was again tested, and it remained unbroken. Despite the visitors’ attempts to draw level, it was Ealing who scored the game’s next try, on 54 minutes. Following a turn over ball, the ball was shipped out to Ealing’s other wing Owen Bruynseels, and he rounded off a fantastic free flowing moveto score in the right hand corner. Hallet was again unable to add the extras in the boggy Vallis Way conditions.

Chesters then pulled off a try saving tackle, on Southend’s Mark Billings when he broke through the Ealing defence. Chesters scrambled back and hauled his opposite number down just yards short of the try line.

The visitors fate was effectively sealed, when on 72 minutes they replaced their skipper Mark Williams with Todd Bailey. Bailey only lasted four minutes and following a technical offence, referee Andrew Jackson, again showed the yellow card to him and with it ending his participation on the days proceedings.

From the resulting penalty, Neil Hallett extended Ealing’s lead to 13-0 with less than 10 minutes to play. The visitors were looking increasing frustrated and Ealing’s defence denied them any ball in a decent position.The began to turn the screw, and replacement Ronny McLean-Dents weaved through the visitors defence to score. Hallett adding the extras and Ealing were 20-0 to the good, and still looking for the all important 4th try, with less than five minutes left.

As Southend, tried to move the ball across the backline, a grubber kick was snatched up by Neil Hallett, he collected the ball and dived over in the corner to claim the days 4th try and with it the bonus point that kept Ealing five points ahead of the nearest rivals Jersey, the conversion completed the days scoring and left Ealing with a deserved 27-0 win, dispelling memories of the 32-32 draw at Warners Bridge Road earlier in the season.

Ealing’s Director of Rugby Mike Cudmore said after the game, “Apart from a 10 minute period just after half time I was very happy with our game control. Our lineout and scrum produced good ball for the backs to play with and our defensive lineouts caused Southend a lot of problems and we defended with enthusiasm throughout. We were not as clinical as we would have liked in the first half but in the end it was a good bonus point win”.

Looking ahead to next week’s home game against Taunton, Ben Ward said “Taunton are a very strong side. We got a very good result at their place earlier in the season. However that result means nothing if we cant back it up by beating them at home. We will be working hard in training this week to ensure we are ready come 3pm Saturday."

Photos of Saturday’s action here. Our thanks to Loretta Thompson for the photos.

Ealing Trailfinders

15 – Neil Hallett, 14 – Owen Bruynseels, 13 – Pete Hodgkinson, 12 – Joe Price, 11 – Phil Chesters, 10 – Ben Ward (c), 9 – Morgan Thompson
8 – Anders Neilsson, 7 – Lee Starling, 6 – Karl Gibson, 5 – Matt Evans, 4 – Ryan Gregory, 3 – Steve Neville, 2 – Jon Moyce, 1 – Lewis Brown
16 – Dinos Alexopoulos, 17 – Tyler Edwards, 18 – Blair Morris, 19 – Ronald McLean- Dents

REPORT: Ealing Exiles 0 – 44 Hammersmith & Fulham IVs

Ealing Exiles lose to Hammersmith & Fulham IVs 44-0

Brief report by Nick Greenhalgh

The Exiles were looking reasonable on paper for this return fixture against the team we lost 66-21 to on our season opener. However, come full time we left the field 44-0, a 1 point improvement in the points difference! Not much to write home about.

We were beaten by a better team who made use of fast runners, confident lines of attack, capitalising on every opportunity we gave them. Hats off to them they deserved the win. We also deserved some points but they never showed up. We managed to camp on their try line for several phases near the end of the game, probably had our best opportunity at that point. However, as has blighted us in the past there were discipline problems and sadly this distracted many a player’s attention away from the game. Dave Mac summed up this issue in the post match speech. "It’s killing us, turning player against player". Those concerned know who they are, it’s not the first time they’ve lost the focus of what we are about, but I hope it will be the last! I’ll be recommending that we start to sanction this behaviour swiftly. Either with self imposed sending off on the day without the ref having to take care of it, or a ban from taking part in say the next two fixtures. At the end of the day there will always be members of the opposition who try and gain advantage over their opponents through trying to niggle with them, hold them back from a move, or say something unpleasant. This is a flaw in their character, be a man and ignore it. If the infringement or holding back is persistent and not spotted by the ref, tell your captain who will ask the ref to watch out for it. Believe me when I tell you the very same fella will do the same next week to his next opposition, what you do is not going to bring any justice, it will likely get you sent off and cause half or more of your team to be distracted from their game. So, don’t let your team down, man up, ignore the torments and get on with playing rugby!

What else to report? There were a few stretches of exciting play, though sadly most culminated in a turn over and the oppo launching their high speed back line back into action. Saw some good pressure from Alex A and Alister B in chasing down oppo runners who were pretty sure they were home free. Manus’s enthusiasm on entering the game was quickly felt with a cracking run down the wing. The Exiles front five should be congratulated on the number of configurations they went through in order to accommodate all our players being rolled in and out and also a strong Hammers scrum.

Again fitness proved an issue, and we all need to under take more training to hone all our skills. I was as guilty as the next man in not being able to get that extra yard to stem the flow of opposition runners. Training at Ealing Trailfinders RFC has started up again for the amateur section 7:30pm on Tuesday evenings, I am hearing positive things about it, we need as many of you as possible to turn up to make it more worthwhile. Please do so.

The man of the match was Phil Jones, who was presented with an Ealing jersey after the match at the Hammersmith and Fulham club house aka The Wheatsheaf! Phil did not make a single mistake all game, missed no tackles, dropped no catches, was not out of breath at the end, did not engage in mouthing off the opposition or any low level brawling! Sadly though he also spent the whole match on the side line. Phil had to have an operation on his eye, after which he was informed by the surgeon that his contact sport days were over. So Phil’s boots have been hung up. Phil’s presence will be greatly missed as a consistent bulldozing no. 8. He was the only Exiles to score in last season’s Damian Bugeja Memorial match, where we had to be careful he wasn’t poached by the higher level Ealing sides 😉 He will now be taking on water boy duties and hopefully be able to diagnose the errors of the Exiles’ way from the sideline.

Next week we resume our league fixtures against Quintin away. Hopefully discipline will be restored, fitness improved, and we can really start the new year as we mean to continue! It is my birthday this week, turning 40, which typically means I get the pleasure of playing front row! If I make it through the match please come and join me celebrating at "The Plough", Northfields 8:00pm onwards (blatant plug to try and bolster numbers, to try and make myself seem popular!) cheers Nick

Players:

Ghassan Matta

Dave MacSweeney

Andrew Madden

Tom Laishley

Stef McGabe

Fabio Krasniqi

Jareth Keenan

Nick Greenhalgh

Alex Adide

Dave Morgan

Paul Toolan

Ciaran Doyle

Anthony Lynch

Manus Stapleton

Alun Simpson

Alister Barnston

Neal Craig

Gautam Tamang (‘T’)

Adrian Hobbs

Paul Havel

PREVIEW: Ealing Trailfinders v Southend Saturday 8th January 2011

It’s been a while, 11th December in fact, since there was any rugby at Vallis Way. Hopefully you will remember where to go come 3pm on Saturday!

So a warm welcome back to Vallis Way and this mouth watering National 2 South fixture, as top of the table Ealing Trailfinders entertain 4th placed Southend. Neither team has played since the 11th of December, with Ealing overcoming a stubborn Henley Hawks side, 41-16, whilst Southend squeezed past OA’s by 31-26.

Ealing’s captain Ben Ward said ahead of the fixture, “With no rugby since December it has been hard for the boys. We have trained hard when we can, and we are very lucky with the facilities at Vallis Way. In some respects it’s good to allow some injuries to heal, but we are all really looking forward to starting the year well. Southend have had some good results of late, and they will come here looking to get a result. We know we will have to be on form to get the result we all want".

Southend are in a similar position to Ealing, their Head Coach, Andy Holloway said to the club website before this weekend’s game, "As a squad we’ve been very much looking forward to this game since the final whistle went at the end of the home fixture which ended up as a very entertaining 32-32 draw (entertaining for everyone other than the coaching staff!). For us the challenge is fairly obviously big in that Ealing are on a tremendous run of form scoring points for fun and top the league. Both sides come into the game having seen very little rugby but no doubt fresh and free of niggles after the recent extreme weather conditions. Both teams play the game in the way it should be played and I’m looking forward to seeing if we can pick up where we left off after our games with Jersey & Old Albanians. To be honest it will be nice for the players just to get out and play again after nearly a month with no competitive rugby, both sets of players will be desperate to get back into the competitive swing of things again.”

A short history of Southend RFC

Southend Rugby Club has a long and proud history dating back to 1870; a year before the Rugby Football Union itself.

In that year Admiral Charles Barstow Theobald gave a set of ‘By-laws and rules’ to lads playing football at the local Milton Hall sports ground. So the club was formed.

It was called ‘Southend Foot Ball Club’ and one feels an affinity with those Victorian lads when reading their rules and noting similarities with today’s laws such as Rule 4: A player entering a ‘squash’ on the wrong side is offside.

First newspaper reports began to appear in 1878 and early opponents were another Essex side Ilford Wanderers. One reports notes "the pack did not get low enough down, thus wasting weight and allowing the visitors to screw and carry the ball with them". Who says the game has moved on? A young player of the period Jimmy Cotgrove reported that, "we trained with Paper Chases", no wonder the scrummaging technique was not up to much.

During the1978/79 season the club moved to its current ground at Warners Park and a brand new purpose built clubhouse. A grandstand, physio room, gym and shop have been added since. The move saw Southend enter one of its most successful playing eras. The following decade saw the Eastern Counties cup won on three occasions and the Essex Cup lifted four times. In addition Blackheath (10-14) and Rob Andrew’s Nottingham (12-25) were both run close in the John Player cup. 1980 saw the club play one of its most famous games in the televised cup match at home to Gloucester.

The visitors sported an awesome reputation and six current or future internationals in their pack. Leading in the last quarter Southend just went down 6-12 but confirmed their position as one of the strongest sides in Eastern Counties at the time.

The formation of leagues saw Southend placed in National League Four South. Memories of great wins against sides such as Redruth and Lydney remain from this period but from the mid-nineties playing strength diminished and results suffered. Whilst team spirit remained strong relegation and league restructuring saw the club tumble to London North East Three as the new millennium dawned.

However the dawn broke brightly. The appointment of former fly half Kevin Harman as Coach and James Shearing as Captain backed by a playing focused committee saw the fortunes of the club once again on the up.

Much hard work, a new ambition, discipline and approach has spring boarded successive promotions back into London Division One. That same season Southend went on to win London One and in the season 2003-04 saw the club back in the National Leagues again. Playing in the National 3 South the First XV came a very creditable 6th and won the inaugural Essex Senior Cup.

Since then, Southend have maintained National League status and are currently playing in National 2 South under the guidance of the Head Coach Andy Holloway. I wonder whether Admiral Theobald knew what he was starting one hundred and thirty six years ago. The members of Southend Rugby Football Club past and present owe him a debt of gratitude and raise a pint in his honour, as we look back with pride and forward with excitement to the rugby challenges ahead.

Southend in 2011

Southend currently sit in 4th position, on 50 points, 10 behind Ealing. They have won nine of their 14 starts so far this season, four losses and one draw against Ealing (32-32) back in September. A game both teams felt they should have edged!

Of the four losses, two have been on the road (Henley, 36-11 and Dings 28-25) and two at home, 31-38 to Clifton and Taunton 23-25. There have been some memorable victories though, at Warners Bridge Road, against Jersey 33-25, Richmond 35-22 and Worthing away 28-36.

Full back Andy Frost is their top points scorer, with 216 and indeed he tops the NS2 points scoring list. ( Neil Hallett on 210). Frost is also their joint top try scorer on 11 along with wing Mark Billings. Stand off Mike Stanley is 3rd on the list with nine.

Of the 25 tries Southend score away from home, they scored 13 in the first half and 12 in the second. Compare this to Ealing’s 58 at Vallis Way, 28 come in the first 40 minutes, 30 in the second!

They have scored 521 points and conceded 312. They have taken nine bonus points for four tries and three losing bonus points as well.

Southend do top the yellow card table, with 14 to their name! Ealing have only six .. angels one and all………

Ealing’s Director of Rugby Mike Cudmore will be looking to get the ball rolling in his teams assault on the league with a decent home performance and right the wrongs of the visit to Warners Bridge Road last year, he said, "We are all looking forward to this weekend’s game at home to Southend. When we played them back in September we was not happy with our all round performance and the good thing about league rugby is you get a second chance to put that right. We are training hard and expect a very competitive game on Saturday and a big home performance from all involved".

Recent games between Ealing Trailfinders & Southend

16/09/10 Southend 32 Ealing Trailfinders 32
27/03/10 Southend 27 Ealing Trailfinders 28
28/11/09 Ealing Trailfinders 39 Southend 28

Other National 2 South fixtures this weekend

Clifton v Henley Hawks
Hinckley v Shelford
Jersey v Canterbury
Newbury v Lydney
Old Albanians v Worthing
Taunton v Richmond
Westcombe Park v Dings Crusaders

See Statistics for details.

Ealing Referees Promoted and ELRA Successes

The London Society of Referees has promoted two Ealing referees, Tim Harrison and Bandara Wekadapola, to new levels. Tim and Bandara referee adult club matches on a weekly basis, as well as being regulars at Ealing taking charge of our Youth matches on Sundays.

The Society brings referees in at Level 15. It fiercely protects the standards it has set over many years, requiring referees to demonstrate knowledge of the laws, their application on the pitch and the ability to manage the players in order to provide the game the players want to play and the spectators want to watch. Gaining promotion therefore means that the referee has met the high standards required to satisfy the players, who report on the performance of the referee after each game, and a stringent review by the Society assessors. Promotion is hard to achieve.

Tim has been promoted to Level 9, covering games in Herts/Middlesex Div. 1 and Surrey Division 1. Bandara has been promoted to Level 10 covering the higher games in the Middlesex Merit Tables. Both are to be congratulated – well done! We look forward to seeing both of you at Ealing.

I am also able to report that 18 Ealing referee candidates have successfully completed the Entry Level Referees Award (ELRA), offered by the RFU and delivered by our good friend Ed Turnill, our RFU Referee Development Officer. Of those, 6 are adults and 10 are young referees including 2 members of the Jades. Congratulations to each of you and we look forward to seeing you out on the pitch. We are actively seeking games for the new referees to take, and will be providing opportunities for coaching the young referees as they take mini and midi games in the New Year. Five more candidates are currently taking the ELRA course and we hope to be able to pass them before the end of the season.

In the New Year we will be organising the next referee meeting towards the end of January. We aim to run the Continuous Referee Develop Award (CRDA) and will hopefully have a guest referee or two to talk to us.

The club appreciates all that you are doing, so we look forward to seeing you out there in the coming weeks. Remember, this is the premier referee section in the country and is the model promoted by the RFU; you are part of something very important. Thank you!

Happy New Year

Charlie Hodder

REPORT: Ealing Jades 7 – 29 Teddington Sunday 28th November 2010

Ealing Jades faced Teddington on very cold, icy Sunday in November. The first ten minutes of play saw the Jades take time to defrost as Teddington scored two tries against them.

However, Ealing Jades soon pulled it back tackling hard, rucking the ball out to the backs and taking it on into attack, dominating the next 20 minutes of the first half. There was some excellent forwards play by Vanessa Dixon in the back row, having recently returned from very bad concussion. Vanessa played well, tackling hard and low and proving a staunch defence that Teddington could not break.

Hazel Frame had an excellent game at scrum half. She wasdominated the forwards, constantly communicating with them and the backs as to the direction of play.

With a fantastic ball won by Sheena in the line out, Hazel shipped this out to the back line who ran it on and went through phase after phase. This was completed as Sharon Braddish took the ball over the line to score the Ealing Jades only try of the game, converted by Tash Holmes.

Scrums proved tough and both teams gained their fair share of ball but Ealing Jades soon hit back. With new addition Yogi, in at prop we began to defend scrums very well, often turning over ball and gain ground. But Teddington played well and in the latter stages of play managed to run Ealing Jades ragged and score against us again and again.

The final whistle blew – Ealing Jades 7 Teddington 29

PREVIEW: Richmond FC v Ealing Trailfinders Sat 18th December

The last Saturday before Christmas, a local derby as top of the table Ealing Trailfinders visit local rivals and defiantly the form team of the moment, Richmond FC at the Athletic Ground. Richmond currently lie in third position, only one point behind second placed Jersey and six behind the league leaders.

Richmond’s form since their loss to Ealing, 15-13 at Vallis Way in September has been magnificent. They suffered three early season defeats, but have since gone 11 games undefeated, including some strong results against, including wins against Jersey ( 25-14), OAs away ( 26-39), Worthing (31-8) and Canterbury ( 28-52). Without a doubt they have come good since the trip to Vallis Way.

Their Director of Rugby, Ex Oxford University supremo Steve Hill said earlier in the week, “All at Richmond FC are excited about the visit of Ealing this coming Saturday. The game in September was a really exciting, close affair and I am sure the same will be true of this coming match. The Richmond team has changed quite a bit since the September encounter and the team have gained a good amount of confidence through their unbeaten run over the last eleven matches. The beating of Jersey and Old Albanians plus the way in which the team played against Lydney last week have been the highlights of that run. Ealing have had some really strong performances and so it will be a match between the two form teams as the last match before the Christmas break. Both sides want to play rugby and so the game will potentially be a real Christmas cracker!”

Richmond FC – A history

Richmond, a club rich in history, was formed in 1861 and participated in the world’s very first inter-club fixture in 1864 against Blackheath. It is one of the 8 existing founding clubs to have formed the Rugby Football Union (RFU) in 1871. It broke new ground by hosting the first experimental floodlit match on Richmond’s ground in 1878, and it was one of the first clubs to host the All Blacks touring side in 1905. Richmond played in the first match on the RFU’s ground at Twickenham in 1909. It even played in the first match under the Football Association Rules of 1863 but quickly decided that these rules were not for Richmond! It was one of the first clubs to embrace professionalism in 1996.

In its three years as a professional club it attracted a strong squad of players and gained promotion by winning Division 2 in 1996/7 and finished 5th and 9th respectively in the Premiership in the next two years. In early 1999 the major financial backer to the club withdrew his support and consequently Richmond went in to administration. The club’s right to play in the premier Division was removed and the professional squad was disbanded.

A new company, Richmond Vikings Ltd., financed by a number of old and new Richmond supporters, has successfully re-established the club in the old Corinthian spirit. The Club came out of administration in May 2002 and Vikings have also been successful in buying the vast majority of shares in the Richmond Athletic Association, which holds the lease of the Athletic Ground comprising 7 pitches in 26 acres. This has enabled Richmond to keep the tradition alive on the grounds where the club has played rugby since 1889.

Richmond in 2010

Richmond have had a great turn around since their three early season defeats . They remain unbeaten in their last 11 games, including the last six at the Athletic Ground. They have scored 527 points and conceded just 238 (to Ealing’s 659 v 229). They have eight points for four try bonuses and two losing bonus points as well.

Flanker Guy Thompson heads their try scoring list with 14, not bad for a piggy forward…… Wing Nick Barrett is next on eight. Stand off Ross Broadfoot, has 128 points to his name, against Ealing’s Neil Hallett on 210. Off the tries scored Richmond have an even split, 34 by the backs and 32 by the forwards, whilst Ealing backs account for 70, to the forwards 15!

Saturday 18th December, The Athletic Ground kick off 3pm………a better bet than Christmas Shopping!

Previous results of games between Ealing Trailfinders & Richmond FC

08/10/05 Richmond 32 Ealing Trailfinders 12
11/02/06 Ealing Trailfinders 30 Richmond 20
09/09/06 Richmond 20 Ealing Trailfinders 40
17/03/07 Ealing Trailfinders 40 Richmond 14
20/12/08 Richmond 22 Ealing Trailfinders 27
04/04/09 Ealing Trailfinders 51 Richmond 10
12/09/09 Richmond 17 Ealing Trailfinders 32
02/01/10 Ealing Trailfinders 24 Richmond 16
11/09/10 Ealing Trailfinders 15 Richmond 13

Other National 2 South games this weekend

Canterbury v Westcombe Park
Dings Crusaders v Clifton
Henley Hawks v Newbury
Lydney v Taunton
Shelford v Old Albanians
Southend v Hinckley
Worthing v Jersey

REPORT: Ealing Trailfinders 41 – 16 Henley Hawks

Ealing Trailfinders overcame a stubborn Henley Hawks side at Vallis Way on Saturday, in a game that many will remember for an incident in the 27th minute, which saw referee Paul Kimber send the Hawks number 8 Matt Payne off for an apparent stamping offence to Ealing’s own three try scoring wing Phil Chesters.

Ealing were made to work all the way for this victory, and indeed it will keep them in good stead for next week’s clash at the Athletic Ground against neighbours Richmond, who had a great day at the office with a demolition of Lydney by 59 points to 9.

The game was very physical, and it was something that was not unexpected by the home team. Ealing’s Director of Rugby, Mike Cudmore had prepared his team well, he said "Henley are a physical team and we knew that we had to not only match them in this area but produce a performance that controlled our possession and caused them problems when they had the ball and I felt we did this for most of the game".

The opening salvos from each sides were pretty even. Henley’s full back James Combden opened the visitors account on two minutes, Ealing replied with two penalties of their own from the dead eyed Neil Hallett after 15 and 21 minutes. With the home side in the ascendancy in terms of territory, and the majority of scrums going the home sides way, the visitors hooker Andy Dalgleish was sent to the sin bin by Mr Kimber for pulling down the maul.

Despte being ahead, Ealing were lacking their usual fluidity, and were struggling to find their stride. The Hawks took advantage of this, and following some decent approach work it was open side Adam Holloway who was put in to cross the home sides try line. Combden adding the conversion on 27 minutes, saw the visitors 10-7 ahead.

Then the incident that Henley felt was game defining occurred. Following a ruck on the left hand side of the pitch, wing Phil Chesters went down to collect a loose ball, from the ensuing ruck, and after consultation with his linesman, referee Mr Kimber felt that that there had been intentional stamping by Henley’s Matt Payne.

Ealing’s response was almost immediate as flanker Karl Gibson took advantage, and from the ensuing lineout went over for a converted try on 35 minutes to stretch their lead out to 13-10. Henley responded with a well taken long range penalty from full back James Combden on 38 minutes, but it was the league’s top try scorer that took the Vallis Way side into a half time lead, when on the stroke of half time, Ealing moved the ball wide and fly half Ben Ward off loaded to Chesters who turned on the afterburners and scored out wide. Neil Hallett converted and Ealing went into halftime with a 20-13 lead.

Hallett extended the lead with two penalties as Henley infringed again after the break. Combden responded with a penalty for the Hawks but Ealing were in the ascendancy, and their game management begin to show. The forwards were dominating Henley now, as the visitors began to look ragged in defence and the home side looked to move the ball searching for more points.

Hallett’s 65th minute penalty took the lead out to 29-16, and it was left to wing Phil Chester’s two tries in a hectic final five minutes. His first on 76 minutes saw him dart up the left hand side, leaving the defence for dead. Two minutes later Chesters was the grateful recipient of a wonderful cross field kick from skipper Ben Ward, the speedy wing gathered the ball to touch down in the corner. Hallett ended the day with a perfect touchline conversion and Ealing sealed a hard fought win ahead of next week’s local derby with Richmond.

Man of the match Phil Chesters said afterwards, “Having the week off due to the Dings game being postponed meant the boys had to wait a little longer to rectify some of the areas we talked about improving after the Canterbury score line."

He continued "We knew that it wasn’t going to be easy to do that against a side such as Henley, as we knew from last year’s results and their form this year so far. Training was based around stopping them in key areas and just doing what we do well to a high level for 80mins."

"Everyone was pleased with the way in which we managed the game second half and closed off the game, and to get a bonus point running up to Richmond next week was very pleasing ".

Ealing visit the Athletic Ground to face Richmond for a 3 pm kick off next Saturday.

Ealing Trailfinders

15 – Neil Hallett, 14 – Owen Bruynseels, 13 – Pete Hodgkinson, 12 – Joe Price, 11 – Phil Chesters, 10 – Ben Ward (C) 9 – Morgan Thompson, 1- Rob Buchanan, 2 – Jon Moyce, 3 – Steve Neville, 4 – Ryan Gregory, 5 – Matt Evans, 6 – Blair Morris, 7 – Karl Gibson, 8 – Anders Nilsson
16 – Lewis Brown, 17 – Sonny Kuwango, 18 – Tyler Edwards, 19 – Jay king, 20 – Sam Wardingley

PREVIEW: Ealing Trailfinders vs Henley Hawks

Ealing Trailfinders return to Vallis Way this weekend, and welcome Henley Hawks to West London. The forecast looks good at the moment, so lets see you all down at the club for this Christmas special, with games and attendance from every senior team in the club.

Despite the cancellation of last weekend’s fixture at Dings , Ealing’s Director of Rugby Mike Cudmore did not view it as a negative, he said " Having last week off due to the weather was not a bad thing for us. A lot of players have not had a Saturday off since the pre season and not playing last week has enabled some players to take a deserved day off and also allowed us to rehab others. There are some teams who have missed two weeks on the trot and this can be very disruptive if you can not train outside also. "

Mike continued " We are looking forward to Saturdays home game against Henley. They are a good side and we will need to be at our best at the weekend to meet their challenge".

The Hawks made a great start to this season, and currently sit in 7th place in N2S, a return of 8 wins and 4 losses from their 12 starts so far. They have also picked up 10 bonus points.

Early wins over Taunton (36-12) , Clifton (42-14) , and Westcombe Park (27-32) set the tone for the start of their season. A close loss to Jersey at Dry Leas followed (22-33). A thumping away to OA’s ( 50-23) and a close win away at Shelford (7-13) showed a change in fortune for Henley. Their recent form has been patchy, beating Southend, but loosing to Canterbury and Dings.

They do possess some classy players . In Ex Ealing hooker Andy "Kenny "Dalgleish ,centre Ali James, and also number 8 Matt Payne they have 3 players that can change a game. Young stand off Danny Wells is also a danger man.

Ealing’s skipper Ben Ward said " Henley are a good team. They play an attractive and expansive style of rugby the way the game should be played. Each week in this league brings new challenges and its about fronting up and meeting these challenges. The weather has been a distraction over the last 10 days but we have been able to get some good training sessions in and allowed some guys with knocks to recover. I expect both teams to be pretty fresh come Saturday and an exciting afternoon of rugby."

Ealing’s England U20 hooker Rob Buchanan has been at the centre of everything good about the Vallis Way side this season, for a front row player he regularly gets himself on the score sheet, and his last score against Canterbury showed he must be playing in the wrong position!

This is down to the style of rugby that Ealing play. The season for the dual registered Quins player started off with a place in the England U21 World cup squad in Argentina. He said" So far I think the season has been great so far we have been playing some excellent running rugby and subsequently got some big scores, but of course there is also room for improvement and its a long season so there is still more great rugby to come!

He added , "Being top of N2S , everyone wants to have a go at you and brings their A game along with them. Everyone enjoys winning and being at the top of the table which is great and that’s where we deserve to be and should be with the way we play, but everyone knows that we have to take it a game at a time".

Not only does he score tries but he is also a star of the small screen – Watch the ad’s before the Rugby Club on Sky – A thespian in the making ??

Henley Hawks in 2010

The Hawks have scored 45 tries so far this season ; 35 by their backs and 10 from the piggies, compared to Ealing’s 88 tries. Ealing have scored 54 at home ( 26 in the first half, and 28 in the second) . Henley away from Dry Leas have scored 19 tries – split 7 and 12.

Danny Wells tops the points list with 74 against Ealing’s Neil Hallett’s 189. Wing Chris Bart and stand off Tom Allen are their top try scorers with 9 tries each ( Phil Chetsers tops the list on 21).

Rob Buchanan continued ahead of the Henley game " Its great to play at Vallis Way , its a great ground and Henley is another a big game at home so we will be wanting to put on another big performance. They have a good wide game which is similar to us as we like to throw the ball around as well, so should be a great game to watch as long as the weather holds!".

Recent fixtures between Ealing Trailfinders & Henley Hawks

06/03/10 Henley 19 Ealing Trailfinders 19

07/11/09 Ealing Trailfinders 36 Henley 25

28/02/09 Ealing Trailfinders 37 Henley 15

08/11/08 Henley 10 Ealing Trailfinders 15

Other fixtures in N2S this weekend

Clifton v Worthing

Jersey v Hinckley

Newbury v Canterbury

Richmond v Lydney

Southend v Old Albanians

Taunton v Dings Crusaders

Westcombe Park v Shelford

REPORT: Ealing Exiles 24 v 0 SODAM

Exiles make hard work of a 24-0 victory over Sodam.
Nick Greenhalgh reports.

Noon on the open plains of Sudbury Hill, Exiles began to congregate, all questioning, will we have more than five players today. Excuses were coming in thick and fast regarding the issues of traffic and traveling to get to the game. If only this was the first time we had more than half the team somewhere gravitating on the away team’s venue it would be more excusable. So as kick off time came and went we approached thirteen players and a headed out onto the tundra. Studs broke through the frosted ground with a satisfying crunch, much like that of pushing a probing finger into a thick crisp topped Creme Brulee. Exiles feigned warming up and huddled in groups extolling the virtues of drinking a pre-game half of Guinness and arriving late and absolutely not wasting time training or thoroughly warming up before a game. Ok enough nonsense lets get down to the business of the match.

Thankfully a ref was sourced – Malek, and so we were spared a hobbling opposition biased Barry Cousins and his brutal whistle blowing antics. Sides were an even 13 at kick off, though we were still playing Union and not League. We had a few new players today, including Sargis who donned his boots for the first time since leaving school, where he only played a very little, so little in fact that I had to remind him what the group of 8 blokes who crouch down and push is called. This was his first foray from heavy weight boxing and into adult rugby union. Being a large unit with a embryonic yet quickly growing understanding of the game, I placed him at 2nd row though suspect with some training and his upper body strength he’ll be a Sheridanesque prop in no time. Sargis had a good game, getting involved in moderation and in a calculated manner, preferring to opt for the learning what to do by seeing how it is done and mimicking rather than trying it and getting it wrong. This may not be a good idea based on the quality of the Exiles play he got to witness, good examples were far from rife this Saturday afternoon. But big congratulations to Sargis, a good first game, gave away no penalties, no forward passes, no punches, am looking forward to seeing your progression and welcome to the Exiles!

The game started well for the Exiles, Dave Morgan shepherding us in the early stages as our number 10. Ciaran (inside centre today) managed to score the first try in the opening minutes with a nice blast through a hole in the defenses back line. It looked like the score line was going to be a high one today for the Exiles given the ease at which this first try came in. However, Ciaran sadly tore a muscle/ligament/tendon in this try scoring escapade, despite being the most warmed up player! Honest, I saw him lying on the ground yanking his limbs in a most un Exiles manner pre-game. Perhaps this and the inability of the Exiles to capitalise on much of the second phase resulted in the score line staying static for quite some time. After a further twenty or more players arrived, and we were able to fill both teams to full or almost. I can’t recall any more points being gained in the first half. Exiles had most of the possesion, but when we didn’t, we defended well and kept Sodam at bay with very encouraging pressure.

Scott arrived with his son Mitch, and so the father son combination finally managed their first game together, Mitch putting in some great runs and getting himself on the score sheet. Scott not disgracing himself with any drop goal’s, unlike last weekend! Mitch also brought along his mate Jo, who played well in the backs too, for both sides, also getting on the score sheet while playing his Exiles stint. Scott’s arrival marked my departure from outside centre back to my home on the flank of the scrum. From this vantage position I saw the oppo were not getting easily pushed around, the SODAM front row was almost immovable. The SODAM tight head and Matteo our newly acquired Italian prop were not playing well together, I think due to the fact the SODAM player had about double the years and double the weight of his Italian counterpart, as flanker I was glad I wasn’t the man my shoulder was resting on! Sargis unaccustomed to crouching was making good progress in being taught by Jareth how to position himself, and what to bind on. Matteo let out quite a yelp at one point as Sargis’s binding on the prop’s shorts lacked the compassion most second rows give to their props genitals. Meanwhile Tom started to get uncomfortable and for reasons I am still not certain off began on a list of moans, whines, requests to change position, that eventually tried my patience to such an extent I had to walk him off the pitch and swap him for an injured Ciaran who could not run but at least would not drive me to insanity.

Later on still T arrived with his mate V. T came in on the flank as Sargis took a rest with a damaged ankle. V a Fijian centre came in as inside centre as one might expect. The Fijian rugby spirit was strong in V, willing to run hard into the defenders and also willing to fire long and accurate, if unexpected, fast passes to the wing. Afe received a few of these and almost didn’t know what was going on, so much time had passed since he has been passed the ball with such skill and distance. Afe also managed to get over the line and score a try in a nice worked move through the backs. Though quite far down the alphabet already, we keenly await the arrival of T’s other Islander mate X,Y and Z.

Other points to note.

Discipline was markedly better this week, well done all those concerned, unless of course the ref just didnt see it as much!

Chandra had yet another successive game for the loosing team. Regardless of whether he plays for the Exiles or Opposition his side looses.

MacStef the gene spliced combo of MacSweeny and Stef was a no show. Kiwi instincts made it opt for the offer of a stretch Hummer return ride including lingerie model hostesses and bar to see the AB’s beat Wales.

Barry did a good job of berating the team from the sideline.

Fabio persisted in his role as a reformed player and did some good foraging and running with the all in loose play. Alex Adide could have scored if Fabio had managed a small chip kick on one of these runs as he’d pulled in the last defender, however, such kicks are not coming naturally just yet, much more fun to smash into your opposite number while still holding the ball!

Steve Richards did more sterling work in the line out, and behaved himself this week.

Jareth proved himself Jack of all trades in the scrum again, played pretty much every position there this week , as well as giving Sargis some great tutoring on how to play second row.

Dave Morgan dashed about the backs as fly half like he’d found new meaning life. Well done for stepping up into that position.

Alun worked well under many a high ball with his trusty hands.

Many more points could be made but numbed by the cold those are all I can prise from my memory – other Exiles present most welcome to send in there comments to be appended to this report. Particularly welcome are positive comments about the dashing chap who statred as outside centre, moved to left flank and finally no.8 before sitting infront of his keyboard and blatting this report out, am sure he must be well worth a few paragraphs.

Sodam, thanks for laying on the fixture, look forward to the next, and I hope you all still have those lovely Mustaches then too!

Tries:

Ciaran Doyle
Mitch
Afe
Jo

Cons:

Alex A – I think, could be wrong
Jo

Team:
Matteo
Dave MacSweeney
Steve Richards
Tom Laishley
Sargis Hovhannisyan
Fabio Krasniqi
Jareth Keenan
Nick Greenhalgh
Alex Adide
Dave Morgan
Scott
Ciaran Doyle
Jo – mate of Mitch Scotts son
Mitch – Scott’s son
Alun Simpson
Chandra Sekar
Afe Ogun
Gautam Tamang (‘T’)
‘V’ Fijian mate of T

Ealing Trailfinders 1871 U23

Next Match

Author Archives: Paul Clarke

PREVIEW: Ealing Trailfinders RFC v Taunton RFC – N2S Saturday 15th January 2011

Taunton in 2011

Previous fixtures between Ealing Trailfinders & Taunton

Other National 2 South fixtures this weekend:

REPORT: Ealing Trailfinders 27 – 0 Southend

Ealing Trailfinders

REPORT: Ealing Exiles 0 – 44 Hammersmith & Fulham IVs

PREVIEW: Ealing Trailfinders v Southend Saturday 8th January 2011

A short history of Southend RFC

Southend in 2011

Recent games between Ealing Trailfinders & Southend

Other National 2 South fixtures this weekend

Ealing Referees Promoted and ELRA Successes

REPORT: Ealing Jades 7 – 29 Teddington Sunday 28th November 2010

PREVIEW: Richmond FC v Ealing Trailfinders Sat 18th December

Richmond FC – A history

Richmond in 2010

Previous results of games between Ealing Trailfinders & Richmond FC

Other National 2 South games this weekend

REPORT: Ealing Trailfinders 41 – 16 Henley Hawks

Ealing Trailfinders

PREVIEW: Ealing Trailfinders vs Henley Hawks

REPORT: Ealing Exiles 24 v 0 SODAM

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