Author Archives: Paul Clarke

What happened away from Vallis Way last weekend

In all honesty not much did happen last weekend, but we did have four games that beat the freeze! One game that did make a difference to us was Barking’s trip to Kent!

Canterbury 13-17 Barking

After all the rumours of problems at Goresbrook could the Barking bandwagon keep on rolling? Well they won the game but failed to take any bonus points and after our home victory over the Mond, succumbed their first position. Canterbury opened the scoring on 19 minutes before 2 converted tries by Barking took the score to 14-3 to the visitors going into half time. Canterbury replied in the 2nd half with two unconverted tries of their own before Ratford took the game clear of the hosts with another drop goal on 79 minutes.

Rosslyn Park 51-9 Barnes

This was a tight game at half time, Park ahead by a try and two penalties to one Barnes penalty. The second half was a procession, as Park took all 5 league points with 6 further tries to 2 solitary Barnes penalties. It now looks to be an uphill struggle for Barnes as they remain they second from bottom and a gulf between them and Coombe is starting to develop… Park with this bonus point win cement 3rd position as a gap between the top 3 and the rest starts to develop.

Southend 32-20 Shelford

Southend took their foot off the gas in this chilly encounter at Warners Bridge Park. Leading 29-10 at the half way mark, Shelford pulled themselves back into the encounter in the second half, and whilst the margin of victory was comfortable, Southend will be annoyed that they let the Cambridge outfit back into the hunt!

REPORT: Ealing Exiles 5 – 40 SODAM

Nick Greenhalgh reports as shy-on-numbers Exiles flounder in the snow against SODAM.

The Exiles took on SODAM in a friendly fixture on the snowy fields at Ealing Rugby Club. The match had been hastily re-arranged that morning after SODAM’s groundsmen called off their hosting due to frozen pitches.

The Exiles side hovered around the 13-player mark, with a little help from the opposition. With fewer than 30 players on the pitch, the game would favour the team that was daring enough to spread the ball wide quickly. Sadly, the team that managed this was SODAM and not the Exiles.

The Exiles did however manage to score one try as Chandra used his new found grandeur to get himself over the line and ground the ball.

At half-time Alex presented both sides with some warming whisky and port. This was much welcomed, though as with the match itself, SODAM also managed to make much better work of their bottle than the Exiles did!

I think everyone enjoyed themselves and the chance to run around in the snow. Ash may have been the exception, as he took a racking to the neck and had to take an early shower suffering from a pretty sore throat. Other things of note include John M putting in some nice tackles and Stef looking very defiant at times. Ian T and Dave Steene put in some cracking moves in the backs, though sadly not enough to affect the scoreline, but it was good to watch.

Take a look at the gallery to see for yourself.

Finally, many thanks must go to Dave Robinson at Trailfinders Sports Club. He was able to provide a pitch (even doing the majority of the snow-clearing from the lines himself) and hot food at very short notice. Thanks, Dave!

Nick

Ealing Exiles 5		SODAM 40
Tries:	Chandra	Tries:	(6)
Cons:		Cons:	(5)
Pens:		Pens:
Drops:		Drops:

PREVIEW: Ealing Trailfinders 1st XV v Lydney 9th January

Ealing Trailfinders director of rugby Mike Cudmore says his team must do better to succeed in their goal of promotion to National League One – just two levels below the Guinness Premiership.

Cudmore admitted that the display against Richmond on Saturday was not up to the standards his side have set, despite a 24-16 victory and a further four tries taking their tally to 68 for the season.

“We’re pretty disappointed in our general performance,” said Cudmore. “I think there are certain things that we need to improve on over the next few weeks if we are going to be serious about what we want to do in the league.”

“I’m impressed that even when you don’t play as well as you want, you still come away with a bonus-point win – that’s a reflection on how hard the guys are prepared to work

“We want to play at a level each week and be consistent. We dropped off a bit against Richmond but we’ll get it right next time.”

Ealing travel to Gloucestershire to face Lydney on Saturday (2pm kick-off), followed by the summit meeting with promotion rivals Barking at Vallis Way on January 16 – a match Cudmore says is not yet on his radar.

“We haven’t discussed it. Other coaches talked about how may points they needed in December, and one of those teams got beaten so I never lose sight of thinking game-by-game. It’s about testing the opposition continuously and if you do that you’ll get your rewards.”

REPORT: Ealing Trailfinders 24 – 16 Richmond

EALING GO TOP! Ealing Trailfinders 1st XV go to the top of National 2 South with a bonus-point win at Vallis Way, while Barking win, but fail to get a bonus point.

Ealing Trailfinders dipped below their usual high standards but began the New Year with yet another bonus-point victory at Vallis Way on Saturday.
Despite frequent handling errors, and facing a committed Richmond in the tight, Mike Cudmore’s side maintained their promotion push on a sunny winter’s afternoon.
Full-back Peter Hodgkinson put Ealing in front in the 17^th minute, bursting through under the posts to give Ben Ward an easy conversion.

Peter Hodgkinson scores the first try

A quick tap by Richmond scrum-half Toby Henry led to wing Andy Saunders getting his side on the board and on the half-hour full-back Matt Hart put Ealing in the unfamiliar position of trailing on their own patch with a sweetly struck penalty.
The lead didn’t last long as Hodgkinson showed a touch of class, scything through the Richmond ranks to hand National League top try scorer Chesters his 17^th touchdown of a prolific season.
Richmond started the stronger in the second half, Hart stroking over a penalty to bring the visitors to within a point, and the physical battle up front kept the sizeable crowd warm on a chilly day.
Midway through the second period a quick tap, and impressive continuity, led to Ward’s grubber finding the poaching Owen Bruynseels in the corner.

Owen Bruynseels scores

The wing made no mistake and Ealing had a six-point cushion at the start of the final quarter.

Ealing sealed victory, and the bonus point, when the ball was swiftly moved down the back-line for replacement Luke Wallace to exploit a gaping overlap.

Luke Wallace secures the bonus point

Ward slotted the conversion to make it 24-11 with just a handful of minutes to go.
Richmond never gave up and winger Jonathan Wehbe dived over in the corner, and with the last kick of the game Hart just failed to secure a losing bonus point for the visitors.

PREVIEW: Ealing Trailfinders 1st XV v Richmond 1st XV 2nd January

Weather permitting, we will welcome near neighbours Richmond FC back to Vallis Way for the first of the turnaround games, on Saturday 2nd January. With the season having reached its half way stage we will be welcoming some big teams to Vallis Way, and despite their league position, Richmond will arrive looking to put right what happened at the Athletic Ground in September.

Ealing’s Ben Ward always looks forward to games against the Mond:

"Playing Richmond is always good. They were our first league game of the season so it’s hard to read too much into that result. Last time out they pushed league leaders Barking all the way and from the sounds of it were unlucky not to get a result. It should be a tough and exciting game to start the new year."

A brief history of Richmond FC

Now Richmond’s plight is well known, when the professional outfit went bust in 1999, the club re-invented itself, and in the 2000/01 season they found themselves relegated 8 leagues, into Herts & Middlesex 1. Despite this drop, they set about National league record of an 83 match winning streak, and finally returned to the National Leagues last season when they won London 1 and with it the right to play where they see themselves today.

Last season ended with a very respectful 4th place in their first season back. However as 2010 beckons, their league form has in their own words been patchy.

They currently lie in 12th pace, 4 wins and 9 losses from their 13 outings. They did however run leaders Barking close at Goresbrook just before the Christmas break, but by their own high standards their home form has been hit and miss, with losses against Lydney (20-21) and Barnes (21-32) amongst those they would have targeted for a better return.

Full back & skipper Matt Hart top the points table for Richmond with 148, including 5 tries, followed by Luke Cousins & Alistair Simmie with 4 tries apiece. Richmond’s form over the past 6 games leading into this encounter has seen them win one games (40-19 v Westcombe Park at the Athletic Ground), whilst they have only achieved one win this season on the road (Henley Hawks (25-36)).

Despite the visitors league position, Ealing Trailfinders DoR Mike Cudmore will not take them lightly:

"We are all looking forward to the Richmond game at home. They were unlucky to lose at Barking recently and I am sure it will be a very tough local derby. It was frustrating not playing last week at Barnes after out good home performance against Clifton. The players will be working hard individually and collectively over the Christmas period in preparation for the Richmond game and in doing so look to produce a good home performance."

Previous meetings between Ealing Trailfinders & Richmond FC

12/09/09 Richmond 17 Ealing Trailfinders 32

04/04/09 Ealing Trailfinders 51 Richmond 10

20/12/08 Richmond 22 Ealing Trailfinders 27

REPORT: Ealing Exiles 3 – 19 Old Streetonians II

Following a 0-55 thumping in the first leg at their place, Ealing Exiles hosted Old Streetonians II for the rematch. Alex Kruczkowski reports.

With the majority of Exiles paying no heed to the published timetable, the fifteen players in the starting line-up made it out onto the pitch just about in time for the match to start a good ten minutes late. With four Ealing Rugby Club sides apparently unable to find a spare, pumped up ball, or a ball pump and valve, the match started with a somewhat squidgy ball, satisfactory to both sides but not to the referee.

In the third minute, the Exiles took an early lead from a penalty kick after stand-in captain Dave M took advantage of Barry’s absence (at the Christmas lunch) to elect to kick for goal. For those of you familiar with Barry’s approach to the game, kicking for three points is a very un-Exiles thing to do. Nevertheless, Alex A stepped up to the mark and slotted the 25 metre kick well.

And so the score remained 3-0 to the Exiles for the next half an hour, a period that saw Fabio come off for treatment to a nasty cut to his eye and Tom L come off with a popping shoulder. The Exiles defended well and made a few minor breaks, but perhaps nothing that was going to trouble Old Streetonians’ line. For their part, the opposition constantly but only mildly applied pressure, and certainly did not appear to be anything like the team the Exiles played at the beginning of October.

Perhaps it was only a matter of time before the Exiles dropped their concentration levels and allowed Old Streetonians to skip through one tackle too many, and in the 35th minute the opposition scored their opening try, along with a successful conversion.

At half-time, the score stood 3-7.

Five minutes into the second half saw the Exiles presented with another penalty kick opportunity, inside the opposition’s 22 and not too far from the centre of the pitch. With Alex A having been substituted at half-time to allow someone else half a game, Spike had the opportunity to claw the Exiles back to within a point. The kick fell just inches short of the crossbar but everyone was surprised when the referee judged one of Old Street’s flankers to have moved during the attempt. Gifted another attempt, this time Spike put the ball just inches wide of the upright. So it stayed 3-7 with a certain spectator, resplendent in red party hat, looking on from the side of the pitch, feeling vindicated in his beliefs about not kicking for three points!

A further five minutes later saw Paul T go down in a heap in the centre of the pitch. He had to be helped off by two others, only to later be driven to hospital and to have a cast put on his fractured foot.

Soon after, Old Streetonians scored and converted their second try, taking the score to 3-14. A quarter of an hour after that, an unconverted try saw them pull away to 3-19.

The Exiles fought hard for the final 15 minutes of the match and kept the opposition’s scoreline where it was. However, with the side tiring and running out of ideas, there appeared to be little chance of a final score from the home side.

And so it ended there, at 3-19. Michael T left the pitch with blood pouring from a gash in his ear and Spike left the pitch with a messed up thumb, taking the tally of obvious injuries to five.

Overall, the Exiles arguably played their best rugby of the season. Despite the loss, if looked at in context, it was against the top-of-the-league team that had previously beaten us 0-55, and thus not a bad result at all. If the Exiles can take this mindset forward to the next league match (against Feltham on 16 January) and beyond to the rescheduled Haringey match, there is still a chance of avoiding league relegation.

After the match, Old Streetonians appeared to disappear rather rapidly, but on the plus side, it meant there were lots of spare meal tickets and Guinness for everyone.

Alex

Ealing Exiles 3		Old Streetonians II 19
Tries:		Tries:	(3)
Cons:		Cons:	(2)
Pens:	Alex A	Pens:
Drops:		Drops:

PREVIEW: Barnes 1st XV v Ealing Trailfinders 1st XV 19th December

This weekend, skipper Jay King and his Ealing team make the short trip to Barnes Elms to visit the club of Ex Ealing 2nd XV captain and now Barnes Chairman Mike "Rhino" Whitfield.

Friends from our days together in London 1, Barnes completed their meteoric rise to the National leagues last season following a 39-18 win over Bracknell RFC in the play off. This was the 8th promotion since starting out in Surrey Division 3 in 1987.

Barnes current place in National 2 show’s just how hard they have found their introduction to National league rugby, 2 wins from their 13 outings have left them in 14th position, one of which was against their old close foes Richmond and one that left the Barnes Chairman Mike "Rhino" Whitfield to come out with the legendary quote " Your boys took one hell of a beating", such is the fierce rivalry between the two clubs!

A brief history of Barnes RFC

Barnes Rugby Club is a club with a rich history and was established in Barnes in the 1920’s. Although there are indeed possibilities that our earliest recorded match was in November 1862 versus Richmond and played at Barn Elms, it is from the 1920’s that our true history is clear.

For many years we played at Harrodian Club in Lonsdale Road, Barnes, which is now The Harrodian School, before moving to our Barn Elms location in 1994.

Barnes RFC 1st XV has been promoted eight times since being arriving in Surrey Division Three in l987. The 1st XV now play in National 2 having gained promotion in the 2008/2009 season.

We run six teams including a Veterans XV and a Ladies XV and with a thriving and exciting minis section Barnes is a totally inclusive, fun loving and successful local rugby club.

Barnes’s danger men – Full back Warren Gower is their top points scorer on 92 ( 5 tries 14 conversions and 13 penalties), wing Anthony Wilde has crossed for 4 tries. Their home form has been poor , but they have had some close games where more was defiantly possible ( Westcombe Park 19-20, Worthing 14-19).

Comparing the attacking stats for both teams Ealing have crossed the try line 64 times this season compared to 21 from Barnes, scoring 160 points away from home to 69 from Barnes at Barnes Elms. Barnes have had 11 yellow cards, including 3 in one game against Richmond, and 1 red to Ealing’s 4 yellow cards – They breed them angelic at Vallis Way!

Despite their league position, Ealing Trailfinders DoR Mike Cudmore will not take the threat of Barnes lightly – "I was very pleased with our performance last week against Clifton. They were very complimentary about us after the game regarding the way we played in attack and defence. One thing I have learnt is that there are no easy games in this league and our away trip to Barnes this Saturday will be no exception. I will be looking for the team to build on last weeks performance and go into the turnround on a positive note"

Clifton v Bridgwater & Albion

Can Bridgy make it back to back wins? Clifton to return to winning ways back at home with all 5 points.

Lydney v Barking

Barking went to the wire last weekend against Richmond, Lydney will be glad to be home, but should on paper be a comfortable away win, but I have a feeling that Lydney may get something out of this game! Away win but Lydney too run them close…

Richmond v Canterbury

Richmond’s form going into last week’s game against the leaders has been patchy, but they ran Barking close. Can they do it again on front of the Mond faithful against a Canterbury team who have had some impressive recent wins including two recent away wins. A close game but Canterbury to take 4 points

Southend v Henley

Henley won last weekend, but it was not pretty. Southend to return to winning ways and win with something to spare.

Westcombe Park v Rosslyn Park

Park hot back with a impressive home win against Southend last weekend, they have lost 2 games on the road this season, but would hope to come away with something at Goddington Dean. Combe played above their league position against us, and we will be hoping they can do the same against Park. Away win but Combe to get losing bonus point.

Worthing v Shelford

10th placed Worthing entertain 7th placed Shelford, I think Shelford should be too strong, but away from Davey Field they have only won 2 or their 7 games. A close away win.

REPORT: Ealing Evergreens 0 – 51 Richmond Heavies

Ealing Evergreens went down to a heavy home loss on Saturday losing 51 points to nil against Richmond Heavies. The Ealing scrum was stuck in reverse gear all day, we won hardly any line out ball, conceded nine tries and scored none. But apart from that Mrs Lincoln, how did you enjoy the show?

Well, the strange thing is, I quite enjoyed the game and talking to some of the lads after they felt the same. Despite the cloying conditions both sides were keen to run the ball and since we weren’t winning any set-pieces, Ealing had little choice but to run the ball.

We lined up with Jimmy Noak and Matt O’Neill at prop and myself at hooker. Rob Williams and Paul Clarke in the row. Back row was Stef Glancy at blindside, Justin Bugeja at open side and Bill Miller at eight. Dave Brathwaite and Andy Cleary at half-back. Centre pairing was Ed Beck and Dave Steene and on the wings Lawrence Chir and Simon Slattery. Ed Young at Full-back. Subs were Adrian Hobbs, Paul Lowen, Alex Adide and Mark Rutherford.

Richmond, as you’d expect, were well drilled and organised around the fringes. They made inroads into Ealing territory early on and played quite a good off-loading game. They were ably helped in this by us trying to go high in the tackles early on and getting promptly put on our backsides. Before we had got warmed up we were three tries behind and it didn’t help that our first five restarts probably didn’t travel a cumulative total of ten yards and resulted in handy scrums to Richmond straight after their first few tries. This was despite a few different guys having a go at the drop-outs! At one stage, Steeny said to me “Where do you want it?” “High” I said “give us a chance to get under it”. I ran as Steeny kicked off and the ball promptly landed behind me having gone 2 yards. At the next restart, before we’d even kicked off, some Richmond wag said they’d take the scrum! To be fair the ground was pretty chewed up but this was ridiculous!

But then we started making proper tackles and taking the game to Richmond in the loose. Ed Beck, Steeny and Slatts were prominent in open play and made several clean breaks. One such break saw Steeny on a mazy run past a few defenders before offloading to Lawrence who beat a few himself before getting hauled down agonisingly close to the line. There should have been someone on his shoulder and this was an area we were poor at, supporting the guy making the break. But we had a lot of chances to make an impression and I really don’t think that someone watching for long stretches of the game would have thought we were 50 points a weaker side than Richmond. They were clinical in the set-piece and much more organised out wide, some of their handling and off-loading was terrific, so as Roy Keane would say, at the end of the day, all credit to Richmond Heavies. However, there is no doubt we can compete in these games but we need our strongest side to be available. Injuries and people being away hurt us on Saturday but the good news is there are chances to put things right next year so start looking at your diaries!

Good work also by Justin Bugeja who tackled like a demon against a big pack before going off after taking a heavy knock. Well done to Lawrence who moved from the wing to cover at blind-side when Justin went off and got into the action straight away by getting a bloody nose! I honestly take no pleasure seeing a back having to rough it with the hairy boys and having his modelling career threatened. Honestly! I was laughing at something else Lawrence…..

Full marks to the entire team for never giving up, everyone showed great heart not to start hiding when the scoreline was looking ugly and we kept looking for the consolation score. It didn’t come but it wasn’t for lack of effort!

Speaking of lack of effort I had totally forgotten about the fact I had declared Hawaiian shirts to be the dress code for the night. So had everyone else except Adrian H who kindly lent me a spare…. What kind of man has a spare Hawaiian shirt?? Bad enough having one in your wardrobe!

So Happy Christmas to you all, may the festive season bring you all the after-shave gift packs and socks you could wish for. I hope everyone’s new year’s resolution is to play more rugby?

Declan Cronin

What happened away from Vallis Way this weekend?

So what games went with form and which against?

Barking 24-19 Richmond

Most neutrals expected the East Londoners to take all 5 points in this 1st v 12th place encounter. The Mond had other ideas especially after their 1 point home loss at home last week. A close 6-6 game at half time, it took until the 71st and 80th minute for Barking fly half Ratford to pop over two drop goals to take the win and 4 points and the whole of Barking to breath a sign of relief!

Bridgwater & Albion 16-12 Westcombe Park

A welcome win for basement side Bridgy. An early 17th minute try was the highlight of this kicking duel between fly half’s Evans and Audis.

Dings Crusaders 48-0 Barnes

Dings hopefully softened Barnes up for our trip this coming weekend! 33-0 up at half time, Barnes 2nd half was about damage limitation.

Henley 10-8 Worthing

Worthing on a high after their win last week over Park will be disappointed. 5 penalty misses by Joe Govett meant they left Dry Leas with only a losing bonus point when more were definitely on offer!

Rosslyn Park 38-15 Southend

After last week’s disappointment on the South Coast , Park returned home to the Rock and a solid 6 try home win kept them in 3rd position

Shelford 44-6 Lydney

Seven try Shelford returned to winning ways at Davey Field. Pretty much one way traffic, as the home side ran in a try in the first 3 minutes and finished off on the 72nd minute, Lydney had no answers to their hosts superior power up front.

Ealing Trailfinders 1871 U23

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