Some of the family of the late Denise Steadman are running in the Bristol Hall Half Marathon on 17th September. This is memory of Denise and is a fundraising effort in aid of Cancer Research.
I you would like to support the efforts of this family which has been a stalwart supporter of the club for many years then visit https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/cornwall-bristol2017.
The Ealing Trailfinders R2R coaching team, ably led by Paul Hoban and Steve Weekes, is ready and waiting to help players to return to the game. In short the R2R programme is a coaching and playing programme that provides a safe and enjoyable reintroduction to rugby for players who are inspired to return to the game. So if you want to participate, or you know someone who you think will want to participate, then do something now!
These sessions are totally aimed at having some fun, possibly getting a little fitter and as a gateway to see if you might fancy playing for one of the Ealing Trailfinders amateur rugby sides at some time in the future.
You do not need to have had any prior rugby playing experience and no need to fear – there is no plan to get physical at this stage.
So if you are aged between 18 and ……. come join us; its free!
Our first session is at 7:30pm on Tuesday 3rd October at Vallis Way under floodlights on our magnificent 4G pitches.
Ealing Trailfinders Rugby Club will also be running subsequent sessions each Tuesday evening from 1900-2100 on the following dates.
Tuesday 10th October
Tuesday 17th October
Tuesday 24th October
Tuesday 31st October
Tuesday 7th November
Tuesday 14th November
Any enquiries please cal/textl Paul Hoban – 07939 038933.
We are an inclusive club welcoming all those who want to play the game.
We train and play twice a week; Thursdays 6.30pm to 7.30pm (U9-U12) and Sundays 12noon to 2pm.
If we are at an away fixture the start time will vary depending on the club hosting.
All children are welcome no matter what their experience or ability.
In line with our ‘one club’ ethos in Minis we look to follow the Ealing 1st XV style of play and play a game which is FUN, FAST and FREE FLOWING.
We also follow all relevant RFU and Middlesex rules and guidance some of which is listed below.
Information Sources:
http://www.englandrugby.com/my-rugby/players/core-values/
http://www.englandrugby.com/my-rugby/coaches/new-rules-of-play/
http://www.englandrugby.com/my-rugby/coaches/regulations/
Henley Hawks 42 – 14 Ealing Trailfinders Academy
The Academy travelled up the M40 to Henley on Thursday to take on National League 2 side Henley Hawks in their second match in four days. The Hawks are possibly the toughest test the Academy has encountered in the four years it has been running and the first half was a baptism for many of the players.
With the return of our loan players to the squad, there was more experience on show but a mixture of respect and nerves saw the Oxfordshire side enjoy dominance in field position, possession and scores on the board.
What possession we had we failed to press home, there were high points, 18 year old second row Alex Niang really grew in stature and relished the physical challenge. Scrum half Conor Segre followed up a good performance against London Scottish with another excellent game. Wing James Booth really opened up the Henley midfield taking a clever pass from Poynter to run 50m before being hauled down 5m from the line.
(Scrum Half, Conor Segre)
Half time gave an opportunity to gather ourselves and refocus on what we wanted to achieve and the principles we follow.
The second period was a completely different story to the first, almost from the first kick we started to attack with pace and conviction, making meters beyond the tackle and disrupting the organised Henley defence, this space was exploited by Segre time and again and his connection with U18 Emerging Player Group fly half Ciaran Poynter, continues to grow, a neat attack down a loosely defended blindside was snuffed out, but the quick ball generated was moved wide across the pitch and Yun Shun Luk went over to the left of the posts, Poynter converted for the full 7 points.
The game swung from end to end, brilliant line breaks by replacement centre Ollie Morris, Michael Rugely and marauding runs by prop forward Kadeem Collins had the Ealing support on their feet, and it was Rugely who finished another good blindside attack with McMinn adding the conversion.
After the game, Academy Director John Lacey said “That was a fantastic evening and marks a massive change in the Academy, we have ticked off some real milestones in the last two seasons, we matched the organisation we had set as our bench mark, we now compete with each of the other age group sides we play but to be able to come to an established club at Level 4 of the RFU structure and have sustained periods on parity and even some dominance is a joy to watch.
Having 1 x U18, 6 x U19 and 6 x U20 on the field is a real statement of the development the boys are achieving. They can be very proud of themselves tonight, the coaching and management team certainly are!”
There is a short gap to catch our breath as the boys return to their Saturday teams for a couple of weeks before we take on the Royal Air Force at Vallis Way on 17th September, kick off is at 14:30 and we would love to see a good crowd the cheer the boys on.
Ealing Trailfinders Academy
Steadman L, Samms, Luk, Townshend, Booth, Poynter, Segre, Lowe (c), Hill, Day, Wake, Niang, Chamnaoui, Hodson, Hitchcock
Replacements
Bannister, March, Collins, West, Armstrong, Gregory, Steadman J, McMinn, Morris, Rugely, Ainsby
Scorers
Tries – Luk, Rugely
Cons – Poynter, McMinn
Academy Director John Lacey has named the Academy team that travels to National 2 South club Henley Hawks tomorrow evening. The fixture marks a huge step up in aspiration for the Academy, playing such a respected and established club as Henley is a massive test for the young Trailfinders.
It will be an interesting fixture as three of the starting line up will be playing for the opposition on loan this season, Skipper and No8 Marcus Lowe continues his association with Berkshire side for a second season having picked up Henley’s Young Player of the Season last year. He is joined by hooker Matt Hodson and centre Luca Townshend who will look to force their way into contention in the coming weeks.
There are big step ups for fly half Ciaran Poynter and wing James Booth who both impressed on debut last week.
John Lacey said “We are really excited to be able to play a fixture against a National League 2 side, we are looking to take some key learning points from the game. If we can dictate the tempo and impose ourselves for periods we will be over the moon.
The boys have worked hard through preseason and looked fit on Saturday, whether we can match the physicality of Henley will remain to be seen, but if we want to develop as players and as a team, we have to challenge ourselves against the toughest opponents”
Kick off is 20:15 at Henley’s Dry Leas Ground, Marlow Road RG9 2JA.
Hope to see you there #yealing
London Scottish Highlanders 24 – 19 Ealing Trailfinders Academy
It was the archetypal game of two halves at The Athletic Ground on Saturday as a first half onslaught by the Exiles proved just enough to see London Scottish over the line in a bruising encounter.
There was always going to be ebb and flow in the match with the two sides adopted different approaches. London Scottish have dropped their academy side and now run a Performance Squad and looked to use those players to gain match practice. The Academy coaches looked to use the game to see all the players in a match environment and tried many new combinations in the first two periods of 20 mins. The disruption however did’nt warrant the rustiness that was apparent with poor defence and a lack of go forward striking.
London Scottish were well deserved leaders at 24-0 after 50 mins, two actions proved the catalyst for change, a big defensive play by prop forward Kadeem Collins gave the Trailfinders heart and a great 30m line break from back row forward Devon Smith followed by a deft offload to ever present scrum half Conor Segre got the boys on the scoreboard.
This signalled a change in the tide, the Academy began to play with heart and ambition. Excellent awareness and great use of the blindside put No 8 Zak Gregory over for the second try converted by U18 fly half Ciaran Poynter. A strong carry by flanker Alfie Hill, just returned from a summer playing in New Zealand with only 2 minutes remaining saw the conversion kick refused for the chance to score the winning try. Sadly a turnover gave Scottish the opportunity to kick the ball out of play to end the game and save the win.
Academy Director John Lacey said “On reflection we can be happy with our second half performance, we were playing our first game together with 10 players making their Ealing or Senior Academy debuts.
We remained true to our development ethos, Fly half Ciaran Poynter at 17 years old lived up to his promise from training, we also had prop forwards Harry Robbins and Akeem Eubank-Anderson in the second and back row in Q3 as they cant scrummage in the front row until they’re 18, they’ve worked as hard as anyone else in preseason and deserved a run.
Our final quarter was excellent, we showed energy and awareness, it got scrappy but we were certainly effective.
We’ll take some key points from here and look to sharpen up, its a short turn around before we play National 2 side Henley Hawks on Thursday, that’s going to be a huge test for the squad and we’re all really excited to see how the boys cope with what will be the biggest challenge many of them have faced in their rugby careers so far. Henley will be strong and well organised, if we could test them across parts game it would be great. If the boys have ambition to play at the higher echelons of the game, this is huge opportunity.”
Thursdays game is set for a 20:00 kick off at Dry Leas, Marlow Road, Henley RG9 2JA. It would make a massive difference to the lads to hear some Ealing support from the touch line.
No, not the networking forum for technology start-ups but rather a new Coaching initiative for the Ealing Men’s Section…
On the First Tuesday of each month during the coming season a ‘guest coach’ from a non-rugby sporting discipline will lead part of the session bringing new ideas, innovative skills and a fresh perspective to Ealing Men’s training.
The inaugural session will take place on Sep-05 when a Sprint Coach will deliver on the subject of SPEED…
Despite Rugby’s proud attribute of being a sport for all shapes and sizes, irrespective of shape or size there is no position on the pitch nor player in the squad whose game would not be improved by greater acceleration or increased top end speed.
Please mark Sep-05 in your diary and take advantage of the very first ‘First Tuesday’ at Vallis Way…
Best
Nick Lambert
Head Coach – Ealing Men’s Section
It seems like only yesterday we were at Old Deer Park for the final fixture of last season against this weekend’s host London Scottish. But there have been big changes with the Exiles over the summer and this Saturday take on their Performance Squad U23 side in 4 x 20 minute format.
The Academy have seen a lot of new faces trialling over the summer period and they get the chance to show their ability in a green shirt for the first time. There are also some familiar faces returning to the club after a short break, flanker Alfie Hill returns from a summer playing club rugby in New Zealand, full back Lewis Steadman returns after completing his University studies and Alex Niang and Matt Hodson both join up with the squad after leaving school.
Academy Director John Lacey said “Saturday is a great chance for the boys to step up and claim a place with the squad for the season, we have this game and a fixture next Thursday against Henley Hawks, both will be incredibly tough tests and we will see who has the potential to develop at the rate we need.
The squad looks good at the moment with players moving up through the RFU league structure, we have partner club agreements in place with Newbury Blues at Level 5, London Irish Wild Geese, Worthing Raiders and Henley Hawks at Level 4. We have a very young group behind the loan guys and will be strong at U20 this season.
We also have three U18 Emerging Player Group players training with the Senior Academy, Ciaran Pointer, Gereint Price and Harry Robbins have all started well and don’t look out of place. These lads have a big season ahead of them with study and rugby to balance, but they have shown maturity during their time with us so we are confident they can cope with the extra demands.”
Kick off for Saturdays fixture is 13:00, we’d love to see as many of you as possible cheering on the boys.
On 4th July we commence preparations for next season and we need to a) build on the excellent momentum from the well-attended Summer Touch sessions and b) establish a routine of regular Summer Training…
So now is the time to press CTRL-ALT-DELETE and to RE-BOOT ahead of an exciting new season…
July sessions will be structured allowing elderly, infirm, new and casual players to continue with ‘Touch’ whilst those aspiring to play 1st and 2nd XV rugby (and of course any others who wish to join) engage in a slightly more demanding programme of activities…
Don’t forget our GET-ONE-IN campaign by bringing along a friend, colleague, family-member or gym-buddy…
In summary RE-BOOT from Jul-04 and GET ONE IN, now…
From July 4th each Tuesday and Thursday 19:30 – 21:00
A perfect outcome to a perfect evening, at what can now legitimately called Fortress Vallis last Friday, was preceded by an intense build up by both sides as they prepared for this season’s Middlesex Merit Table league play-off final. Both sides had had convincing semi-final victories coming into the game, with H & F dispatching a strong Fullerians side at Allianz Park notching 60 points in the process after our own win against Wasps.
H&F started the stronger of the two teams, camping themselves into the bottom left hand corner of the Evergreens half courtesy of some strong attacking play and a moderate right to left wind. However, the Vets soaked up the pressure with solid defence, helped by loose tongues from H&F that led to a number of penalties. The final one was converted by Gunny for the first points of the evening in minute 12. Nine minutes later the ever youthful number 9 Graham whipped past Terry down the blindside to collect his own chip and score in the corner for an unconverted try; 8-0. Gunny then kept the score board ticking over with another penalty to punish the missed one by H&F after 30 minutes but the first half pressure really came to bear just before the whistle. A Whitney break was followed by three clinical recycles of the ball with fourth phase wide ball allowing Jacko to score in the left hand corner. A final pre-halftime penalty meant that the Evergreens took a commanding 21-0 lead into the break.
The beginning of the second half was the opposite of the first with H&F putting in a massive defensive effort but breaking away from a penalty kicked to the left corner to score a try. The impeccable Gunny then slotted another penalty followed by a well worked forwards try that effectively put the game to bed. Nevertheless Hammers never gave up and were rewarded with a try in the corner after a quick penalty tap and go. Beck got his name on the score sheet as usual, but this time with a well struck final Evergreens penalty from approximately 40m out.
There is no doubt this H&F team were a well drilled and talented team but the Evergreens never let them get into the free flowing, high points scoring groove they have been used to this season. Massive defence was matched by expansive, intelligent attack undertaken by a talented group of players who have gelled under skipper Jake, drawn into a winning set-up by Tel & Jacko who have built on the legacy of BOF. All have flourished after taking the leap back into league rugby advised by Ricky and Clarkey. Tour next week lads, but stay interested and come back refreshed for a title defence in September.
