Christmas is almost here so why not celebrate it by lunching with us at Vallis Way on Saturday 12th December.
Starting at 12 noon enjoy a sumptuous Christmas lunch followed by top-of-the-table National League 2 South action as we entertain near rivals Clifton. Book your place now by contacting Brendan Kelly or Les O’Gorman. Limited number of places £20.00 per head. Click here for more information.
Whilst the final score reflected the home side’s dominance of this N2S encounter, Ealing Trailfinders had to fight back from a 5-20 half time deficit to claim all 5 league points against a gritty Southend outfit.
Ealing started the stronger, and after three minutes a disputed call from referee James Mathews, led to a 5m lineout being awarded to Ealing. Scrum half Paddy Gill’s pin point cross field kick was gratefully collected for wing Phil Chesters to dot down for his 14 try of the season.
Southend wing, Andy Frost replied with a 8th minute penalty. Ealing with the wind in their faces tried to play with the ball in hand in order to retain possession, they counter attacked well and make good ground up the pitch but were unable to take advantage of the territory .
Some slack defending, within the closing 10 minutes of the half led to Southend’s outside centre, Mike Stanley , crossing for two tries. Both tries were converted by Andy Frost , to give the seasiders the advantage at half time, 5-20.
The second half was a completely different affair, fly half Ben Ward (Ealing) started to take control of proceedings. Some sloppy play inside the visitors own 22 gave Ealing a scrum, the ball coming back to Ward, who found a gap to feed centre Markus Burcham to cross for the home sides second try of the day on 42 minutes, Ward adding the extras to make it 12-20.
Southend seemed to lose confidence as Ealing turned the screw, the game effectively even at this stage seemed destined for a home victory.
Ward and Frost exchanged penalties on 45and 59 minutes.
The visitors started to creek as the Ealing forwards cranked up the pressure. Ward used this dominance to make space for himself again to feed wing Bryan Young who crossed for a try on 53 minutes. Ward adding the extras to make it 27-23 to the home side.
Further tries were added by replacement Owen Bryunseels with his first touch of the ball,and a second for Markus Burcham. Ben Ward added the conversions for both and put over a penalty to seal Southend’s fate. A late consolation try by Southend replacement Danny Cleare could not hide the fact that the visitors had no answers to Ealing Trailfinders second half display.
Director of Rugby Mike Cudmore added, "the first half started well but we were all disappointed with certain aspects of our delivery for most of it. We spoke about this at half time and all knew what was required. Our tempo, control and effectiveness improved and this reflected in the thirty four points we scored in the second half. When you ask for a reaction like that and get it, it is pleasing. We need to work hard in training this week and prepare for a tough away game at Westcombe Park on Saturday”
15 Hodgkinson 14 Young 13 Burcham, 12 Price, 11 Chesters, 10 Ward, 9 Gill, 8 Hall, 7 King (c), 6 Morris, 5 Winterbottom, 4 Gregory, 3 Alexopoulos, 2 Hodson, 1 Charlton
Replacements: 16 Kuwana, 17 Buchanan, 18 Davies, 19 Wallace , 20 Bruynseels
With the Autumn internationals a forgotten thing of the past, although Martin Johnson maybe having the odd nightmare, National league rugby returns to Vallis Way on Saturday.
The visitors to Vallis Way for the first time, are Southend RFC, a club dating back to 1870, a year before the RFU itself.
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 off side. 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.
Training in 1881
R. Ingram, A. Cotgrove, A. Whur, J. Baluras, O’Shea, C. Ramsden, W. Norman, F. Mitchell, H. Garrett, C. Holthouse
Southend’s league history saw them start in the old National four south, following a period of in their words as “their playing strength diminished and results suffered” they slid down the rankings to London NE3. They climbed back up and were only relegated to N2S last season following the re organisation of the leagues.
Southend currently lie in 5th position , 5 wins, 1 draw and 3 losses from their 9 games played so far. Men to watch out for? Winger Andy Frost is their top points scorer with 106, whilst his other wing, Mark Billings tops the try scoring list with 5, followed by centre Luke Sloane with 4. The bad boys ? Number 8 Sean Vine has picked up two yellow cards this season!
Skipper Jay King is relishing this week’s encounter – ” This week promises to be a tough encounter, Southend are a well drilled, physical and experienced side”.
No recent results can be found, although I am sure we have played them , as I think I was playing! Maybe my memory deceives me…….Anyway 5th position against 2nd , it bodes well for a good game of national league rugby.
Director of Rugby Mike Cudmore added, “They are a team who like to play so weather permitting it should produce a good game of rugby for all watching. They are a good side with lots of experience and we will be looking to build on our good away win at Worthing with a good home performance”.
After a break from league action last week, N2S come alive again this weekend with some interesting fixtures.
Barking still smarting from their 87 minute loss of their unbeaten record this season, return home and should take all 5 points on offer. Barnes form on the road has been mixed, but they should not trouble Barking – Home win with all 5 points to Barking.
A basement battle as bottom placed Bridgy, minus a DoR , take on 13th placed Worthing. Of Worthing’s 3 wins, one came on the road against Barnes in September. Both teams are short on confidence – A close away win.
Potentially a good game, Clifton fresh off their win against Barking travel to Canterbury who despite winning away at Westcombe Park, have had a mixed season. A few punters are going for a home win, but I think the other way – Away win , Canterbury to pick up a losing bonus point though.
Another close game to call. Dings were pace setters at the start of the season, but have fallen away, whilst Coombe have only won twice on the road – Home win
Park were almost turned over at home before the break by Shelford. Henley threatened in phases on their visit to Vallis Way, but given their injury list and the fact they have only won once on the road, can they turn Park over and can Park get any bonus points? Should go with league position – Home win, but no BP for Park!
This has the markings of the game of the day as 7th placed Mond travel to 8th placed Shelford. Shelford have a huge pack, and have lost at home only once, 19-21 to Clifton. Richmond have lost 3 out of the last 4 games, 2 of those on the road. More travelling misery for Richmond – Home win as the heavy conditions at Shelford suit the home side.
The Exiles fail to organise effectively and Quintin level the score in the Exiles v Quintin 2009/2010 series: one game all! Nick Greenhalgh reports.
We took on the boys from Chiswick again and handed the laurels back to them this weekend. Despite being 5-0 up at half-time, we went on to concede four tries in the second half.
We did so in some style though, wearing our new strip with the "Exiles" team name embroidered into them. Having played for the Exiles for almost 15 years this is a first as we usually make do with hand-me-downs, like the poor younger sibling of a favoured elder brother. Just look how proud Steve R is in his shirt, and I am sure you will understand how happy we all are about this!
The Exiles were certainly not lacking numbers this Saturday, with 26 people turning up to play. As it happened, Quintin were a little short and so we were able to bolster them up with some willing Exiles. The front six at the line out (i.e. both front pods) were 100% Exiles!
This worked out well for us and better for the opposition. The reason for this is that having too many players leads to less consistency, so we were hindered in this respect by playing so many people in a rolling subs manner. I think that for league matches we will need to pull back on this as it can be detrimental for our form. It is nice for everyone to get half a game, but maybe we need to look at doing it differently and not switching in and out so frequently.
With Barry selflessly playing for the opposition, Paul T took on the duties of captaining the Exiles at centre. Instead of going through each playing position, in various places the backs also had James O’B, Gilles, Spike, Paul H (Evergreen), Dave B (Evergreen), Fabio, Alex A, Alun, Mark R (Evergreen), Ian T and Gabriel (Buffalo). The forwards had Steve R, Dave MacS, Ghassan, Peter R, Tom L, Michele (Buffalo), Bill M II (Evergreen), Rob W (Evergreen), Chandra, Phil, Dave M, James E and Malik.
Back to the business of the game. Man of the match must go to Phil for his two tries, the first of which was for the Exiles: a nice number 8 pickup to the open side where he bludgeoned his way to the line, finally getting the first points of the game on the board. His second try was for the opposition and was even more impressive. Five yards from the Quintin line the Exiles had a penalty. Steve R stepped up to run it in and managed to make some ground, but a cracking tackler flew into his legs, felling him forwards. Quintin’s oldest player (not sure how old, but suspecting not far from 60) [Quintin captain Ciaran has just informed me that Gordon is 69! – ed.] then stole the ball from the falling Steve R and passed it out left, ultimately getting the ball to Phil. Off he went, basically running all the way down the left wing, shrugging a few would-be tacklers and in general not being impeded much for the entire length of the pitch. Tactically giving Phil to the opposition at half-time may not have been the wisest move! But this is the Exiles way – sigh!
Earlier on during the first half, Quintin had a couple of chances to score after spinning the ball wide to their capable backs. However the Exiles cover tackling worked well, and then for the rest of that half the Quintin backs barely had a sniff of the ball: both sides went through a series of line outs and scrums with the ball being playing tightly by the forwards.
The referee’s whistle saw a great deal of action, perhaps too much really! Its most memorable blow was followed by the raising of a yellow card. Big Bad (and Bemused?) Tom L, playing for the opposition at the time, had committed some heinous crime against the Exiles in a ruck not far from the Quintin line, though I am not too sure what he actually did. However, his selfless act of getting a yellow card while playing for the opposition has to be applauded as great tactical play!
The Quintin backs having rested, literally rested, sometime erecting makeshift chairs with their own colleagues, as is shown below with the three-try scoring centre being sat on his mate, were more than ready for a run out. To be fair at this point these poor fellows had barely had a sniff of the ball.
I overheard one shout as yet another line-out was about to take place: "Next backs move is Suicide Ball! Suicide through boredom!". Later in the second half, run out they did. The previously seated centre scored three strong running tries from reasonable distances. His last try will probably be one that Alex A will not forget for a while as he was pretty much pummelled into the ground by the centre’s bouncing chest in his last ditch effort to stop him.
I’d like to give Ian T a special mention for dry humping one of the Quintin boys as an added bonus for scoring a try against us…
..and again for shortly afterwards saving a try by not allowing the Quintin player to ground the ball. Was this due to the Quintin player not appreciating his earlier amorous moves?
So overall, not a great performance from the Exiles, who lacked organisation and strong decision making, not helped by an ethos of having to play all who turn up. Still, all had a game, and then we settled down afterwards for the main event: watching England lose to New Zealand by a similar margin as we did to Quintin in a bustling club house with Guinness in hand!
Big thanks to Quintin for making the trip up to Ealing. Hopefully when we meet again in February we can address the problems of this particular Saturday and regain our lead in this local derby series!
Photos from the game can be found here.
| Ealing Exiles 5 | Quintin 22 | ||
| Tries: | Phil | Tries: | Phil (yes, one for each team), large northern centre (3) |
| Cons: | Cons: | (1) | |
| Pens: | Pens: | ||
| Drops: | Drops: | ||
It’s HERE, It’s the Ealing Rugby Club Christmas raffle and it’s BIGGER THAN EVER!
There are over 50 prizes for lucky ticket winners. And a group prize for the age group / section which sells most tickets.
Tickets cost £2 each and are available in books of five. Tickets are on sale NOW and will be available until 20th December only.
Draw takes place at the Christmas party on 20th December.
A HUGE list of prizes is at the end of this message. Prizes include International Tickets, Luxury Items, Vouchers for M&S, John Lewis, Champagne, Club Merchandise, Family Treats and £CASH£.
Tickets can be bought from your age group managers, behind the bar, team captains, Tim Dinsley and others but don’t worry somebody will approach you so please give generously….the more you buy, the more likely you are to win.
£250.00 – Kindly donated by ETRFC Social Committee
4 x tickets for
2 tickets for
From the U10’s. Read match reports on the U10 page.
Have a look at more pictures in the Clubs Photo Gallery – you can access it using the menu on the left or via this link.
Ealing make certain of second spot in National 2 South with a gutsy win away at Worthing.
The British seaside is known for its blustery weather so it was not much of a surprise that the weather played a part in a very competitive game played in terrible conditions.
Ealing began with the wind at their backs having lost the toss, and soon put the Worthing line under pressure. After a tough forward contest near the Worthing line after an Ealing lineout, Ben Ward was able to perfectly drop a cross-field kick into winger Phil Chesters waiting arms for score in the corner.
The two packs continued to struggle for supremacy although it was Worthing who were more often penalized by referee Paul Kimber. in the 14th minute he gave a penalty for driving up in the scrum which Ben Ward coolly stroked over for an 8 point lead. Although Ealing applied a lot of pressure they were unable to add to the score line and that’s how it stayed to the half time mark.
Worthing with the wind behind them in the second half weren’t able to match Wards kicking and exploit the wind and keep the contest as far from their own line as possible. Ealing’s defence and game control reduced Worthing’s attacking opportunities throughout the second half. And it was a Worthing kick that led to Ealing’s next try. A clearance kick went straight to Phil Chesters. Chesters has impressed this season as an explosive runner, and he grabbed an opportunity to break through Worthing’s disjointed defence and score his tenth try of the season in just nine games. Despite the high wind Ward kicked the 2 points extra for a 0-15 lead.
Worthing are a gutsy side and fought back to get an unconverted try after some aggressive running from fly-half Joe Govett, and then had a try disallowed late on after a forward pass. But the win was Ealings, and that was underlined by a final penalty from Ben Ward that took his seasons tally to 80 points.
Ealing Director of Rugby Mike Cudmore was satisfied with a good result from a tough away trip.
“At half time I didn’t feel we had exploited the conditions sufficiently re the score line. All the players were aware that we needed to improve our urgency and control if we were going to leave with a win. I was extremely pleased with the team’s response to this in the second half. We played with control, managed the ball for long periods, played up the pitch in the Worthing half and defended well for the majority of the time when required. It was a good away win in very difficult conditions”
Ealing face a tough test this Saturday with the visit of fifth place Southend.
National 2 South must be the tightest league in the country at the moment.
The Ealing Exiles finally get a second win this season with a victory over SODAM. Nick Greenhalgh reports.
After a troubled start to the season the Exiles put in a good performance against our old friends at SODAM on Saturday. As usual in recent weeks our numbers have been hit by the Autumn internationals, not to mention the loss of a few of our antipodean companions. However bolstered by three Evergreens and a spare SODAM prop we had 15 on the pitch for the start of the game. Barry helmed the side in this contest, despite pulling a muscle in his back when demonstrating how line-out lifting should be done in the pre-game warm-up session.
The scrum was worked well from the offset. It was fronted by the pocket rocket that is Dave MacS, Big Bad Barry and our SODAM loan player (later to be replaced by the Exiles’ number one line-out practitioner, Steve R). The second row powerhouse was fueled by Tom L and Rob W. The back row stabilising this affair was Malik and Andy M on the flanks, with Dave M taking the number 8 slot.
The back line was also not too shabby: Spike played at 9 with Paul H taking on the fly half duties ready to feed our centre partnership of Paul T and Adrian. On the right wing we had a heavily-strapped Fabio trying to shrug off a long-running knee injury (I must note that Fabio did one awesome kick during the match much to the surprise of himself and everyone else, and getting the Exiles out of a tricky situation). On the left we had newcomer Simon L, who had been collared in the New Inn by Alex and me during the Wales v Samoa match the night before. Simon took on the challenge of his first game in five years well, fumbled a couple of kicks, but also caught some, and put in some good runs and showed he was not going to shy away from getting involved: a promising start for our newest player. At the rear, the full-back role was taken on by Alun, whose steady hands as ever helped the Exiles well in this match.
The weather was appalling: wind and rain drove in hard on the exposed SODAM pitch. The conditions did not make referee Paul (Slaps) afraid to use his whistle and he certainly made some interesting decisions for both sides. However, despite this the game was fast and flowed pretty well considering. The Exiles made some good drives and Malik was particularly notable with his strong ball carrying antics.
Frequently making ground and aiding the Exiles driving challenges, Malik also got the first points on the board with a nice try early on in the game. The Exiles had been looking pretty dominant in general and so it was good to get some recognition of this with these crucial points.
Paul H also had a good game, though it looked to be over a little too quickly after he was felled with a dastardly trip. Very fortunately for the Exiles, a splash of magic water and a grimace saw him get back on his feet and complete the game.
Dave M played very well, frequently disturbing the opposition in the line-out. From the number 8 position, he also made some good breaks from the back, where he was well protected by Spike’s effective blocking of the opposition’s scrum half. One of these pickups led to the second try.
Aside from some cracking tackles, both centres, Adrian and Paul T, had several good runs and the latter managed to get over the line for the third try.
With just one minute left on the clock, SODAM managed to pick up an interception and one guy ran half the length of the pitch to put the ball down behind our try line. A shame that the Exiles let their guards down, but full credit to SODAM for sticking at it right to the end.
Overall the Exiles can be proud of their performance. The game was a pleasure to watch depsite the poor weather and all involved helped us to this well-earned victory. Hopefully it bodes well for repeat performances. Was it (the seldom seen) Angry Barry’s vicious half time rant, Dave MacS’s final words at half-time, or Andy M’s relentless criticism of the referee that led to this victory? Personally I think we need to thank Alex’s oranges, especially those ones he spiked with Red Bull for the Exiles, and muscle relaxants for the opposition!
Big thanks as usual to our old friends at SODAM for the game and the hospitality afterwards. More pictures are here.
| SODAM 7 | Ealing Exiles 19 | ||
| Tries: | (1) | Tries: | Malik, Dave M, Paul T |
| Cons: | (1) | Cons: | Spike (2) |
| Pens: | Pens: | ||
| Drops: | Drops: | ||
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