Author Archives: Paul Clarke

PREVIEW: Ealing Trailfinders 1st XV v Henley Hawks RFC Saturday 7th November

Back at home

After the trip to Rosslyn Park, our visitors to Vallis Way are Henley Hawks. In their ranks are former Ealing skipper Andy Dalgleish and centre Ali James.

The Hawks early season form has not by their standards been great, injuries blighting them. But they have put a string of two wins on the trot, last weekend, beating Dings by 28-0 and travelling down to Kent coming away with the spoils over Canterbury by 30-19. They also ran leaders Barking close , indeed the closest anyone has got to them this season, loosing at home 15-5. So Mike and the team will not take them lightly.

Paul Trendell and Will Fulton top the points scorers with 36 and 35 each, whilst 5 players each have scored 2 tries for the Hawks so far.

A bit of background about the Hawks

Henley Rugby Club as founded in 1930 as Old Henleiensians (old boys of Henley GS). Always a vibrant and locally respected Rugby Club, Henley’s fortunes began to soar when SIR CLIVE WOODWARD became the 1st XV coach in 1990.

In year 2000 Henley had reached their pinnacle with a midway position in National One (as was) and a top 25 position in National league rugby.

Around the same time Henley took the scalp of then premiership side Bedford in the latter stages of the National Knockout Cup and narrowly lost to Gloucester at Kingsholm in the next round.

Right now Henley occupy a respectable top 50 spot, firmly established in National 2 South with an eye to climbing back up the pecking order.

Recent results between Ealing Trailfinders & Henley Hawks

A close game last season at Dry Leas, saw us storm into a 15-0 lead within the first quarter if the game, only to have to hang on for the victory. The return fixture was a bit easier on the blood pressure . Let hope for more of this this weekend.

08/11/09 Henley Hawks 10 Ealing Trailfinders 15
27/02/09 Ealing Trailfinders 37 Henley Hawks 15

Other N2S games this weekend

Barking v Westcombe Park – Should be a straight forward home win for the leaders – BUT……..

B&A v Rosslyn Park – Will last weekend’s win have taken too much out of Park? I doubt it- Away win.

Canterbury v Southend – Southend too strong for Canterbury – Away win

Dings v Worthing – Can Dings get back on track at home- If anything Worthing will think they have a chance of some points. Close game – Away win?

Lydney v Clifton – Clifton to continue last weeks form and come away with a good away win.

Richmond v Barnes – Local derby time. Barnes had a weekend off last week, but I think their poor form will continue. Home win.

So what else happened away from Vallis Way at the weekend?

So what else happened away from Vallis Way at the weekend? 

B&A 21 Shelford 37

Defeat at home condemned Bridgy to bottom position in N2S. At eight points each at half time, Shelford came out all guns firing in the 2nd half to score 4 tries to seal their away win!

Clifton 56 Richmond 15

A repeat of the playoff game off 2 years ago,but in Bristol this time. Clifton cruised to an 8 try victory over Mond, who will have come home wondering what hit them!

Henley 28 Dings 0

Next week’s visitors to Vallis Way, Henley took a moral boosting win over Dings who have hit a poor run of form as defeat sees them slip to 11th spot, and Dings have only registered one draw in their last 6 games!

Southend 10 Barking 31

Top of the table Barking kicked off on Saturday evening at Southend, hoping for an upset! Standing 3-18 down at half time this didn’t look to be very likely and in the end Barking ran out 4 try winners over Southend.

Westcombe Park 21 Lydney 7

A comfortable win for Coombe, extending their record to 4 wins from 6 games. Indeed they have not lost at home this season

Worthing 20 Canterbury 20

A dull draw- well not from Worthing’s point of view, as a Joe Govett 80 minute penalty rescued a point for Worthing. Indeed Canterbury must have thought they were cruising to an important away win, on 50 minutes they stood at 20-10 up only for a fight back from Worthing

REPORT: Rosslyn Park 31-24 Ealing Trailfinders 1st XV

Ealing Trailfinders stumbled at The Rock on Saturday, losing a very competitive game away to Rosslyn Park. But a last-gasp score secured the Ealing boys a losing bonus point that meant Rosslyn, the winning side, dropped a place to fourth, while Ealing, the losing side, maintained second place.>

National 2 South leaders Barking kept their 100% winning record, but for the pack behind it is bonus points that may decide their fate, and currently it is Ealing who lead the pack with 7 bonus points from their 8 games.

But Ealing will be disappointed that they probably did not deserve to win, and while both sides would probably claim the best backs, it was a winning performance by the Rosslyn pack that won a vital game for them.

A committed start from both sides led to only a single Ross Laidlaw penalty in the first quarter of an hour, but then the visitors took the lead when the ever-threatening Phil Chesters, Ealing’s top try scorer, chipped through only to be taken out late. The referee adjudged he would have scored and went under the posts for a penalty try.

The rest of the first half saw Ealing defending hard in their own half but Rosslyn couldn’t convert their pressure into points. Finally Rosslyn had a strong run by winger James Strong held up short of the line, but a couple more phases saw Strong with ball in hand to give Park a 13-7 half-time lead.

In a thrilling second half both sides had periods of ascendancy, but Park began the stronger. A try from second row Russell Forster after a long series of phases, and then a penalty from Laidlaw left Ealing 23-7 down and they must have feared they would get nothing from the game. But Ealing’s ability to keep playing to the final whistle is one of the reasons they have accumulated bonus points this season. Most often where their backs have proven their fitness and continued to score tries up to the 80th minute in convincing wins, but now it was time to dig in and salvage something from a losing position.

In the 66th minute an inch-perfect Ben Ward cross kick released substitute winger Bryan Young to score in the corner and then, on 76 minutes, it was Ealing Centre Peter Hodgkinson’s turn.  At 26-22 to Park the home team must have feared that Ealing could snatch the points, but they drove forward once more with their pack to score through Hooker Chris Ritchie with just one minute to go. But Ealing showed the resolve that has been a hallmark of a young side this season, and winning a penalty, Ben Ward cooly stroked it over to win a losing bonus point, and keep second place in the league.

Rosslyn Park have won just three bonus points this season, and Clifton’s 4-try bonus point in their home win against Richmond meant that despite their win, Rosslyn dropped from third to fourth in Nation 2 South. Ealing return to Vallis Way on Saturday and will hope to get back to winning ways against Henley.

Movember

Dear All,

We have raised a total of £856.00 so far in our drive to raise money for charity. If you could spare the odd few pounds that could get us to the grand total of £1000 for prostate cancer, it would be much appreciated. We will all be getting our final mo photo done at the end of the weekend.

Ealing Rugby Club are going to take part in ‘Movember 2009’. This is a charity event which relies on all men growing a moustache from the 1st November. Here are the rules of the event:

  • You must shave on the 1st November, and from this date you must the leave the moustache area of your face.(To grow)
  • Any design will do. Obviously the better the design the funnier it is.
  • Try and raise as much money as possible.

The charity which all of this is in aid of is ‘Prostate Cancer’. This is a very rewarding thing to do, and as the club have been such a close nit group together this will only help with team building. It would be great if all member’s the club (Execs etc) get involved as it would be real club thing. 

I will also be trying to get buckets put around the club on a match day and a have piece put in the programme at home games. If anyone from the board can help me with this, that would be great.

The official group page where you officially become a member of the Ealing group is at the following URL: http://uk.movember.com/mospace/206021

Ealing Trailfinders 1st XV v Rosslyn Park 31st October

So is this a make or break game for both teams season?

 In all honesty I doubt it, although it will be good to leave The Rock with the bragging rights against our close rivals Rosslyn Park FC.

Park have started the season well – currently they sit in 3rd position on on 25 points, on  number of games won, ahead of west country side Clifton. Of the 7 games they have played they have won 5 , 3 at home and drawn 1 whilst their sole loss has been against – Barking ! A similar thread there?

Fly half Ross Laidlaw is their top scorer with 91 points, including that precious try at Dings last weekend, whilst wing James Strong is their top try scorer with 5 followed by second row Adam Gates with 4.

So what of Rossyln Park – Who are they and what are they about?

Well like Ealing , they are known as a Football Club. Both our’s and their history dates back to pre RFU days: 

"The club was founded in 1879 when a group of young cricketers decided to form a football club in order to stay together during the winter months. They had originally played their scratch games of cricket in the grounds of Rosslyn House, part of the Rosslyn Park Estate and had therefore taken the name “Rosslyn Park” for their cricket club. When they formed their rugby club they took the same name. Some histories have tried to link the club with the Earls of Rosslyn. Whilst Baron Loughborough, the first Earl of Rosslyn once lived at Rosslyn House, its name was only changed from ‘Shelford Lodge ‘ to ‘Rosslyn House’ after his death. And in any case he died more than 60 years before the club was formed! Neither the football club, nor the cricket club once formed, ever played at Rosslyn Park." 

Indeed they are been up and down the leagues. Playing as high as National 1 (before the many reorganisations). They entered N3S three seasons ago and have been one of the front running clubs. They always maintained an amateur ethos, but they have gone down a new path in recent seasons and have bought in Ex England international Stuart Abbott and Ex London Welsh back row Florent Rossigneux  as back up to DoR Shaun Justice. 

Park made a big statement of intent this year with a new sponsorship agreement with Areana Events Group, they made it know that promotion was a real aim for this season. We will see some familiar faces there as well, with Ex Ealing number 8 Mark Lock now in their ranks, and for those with a really good memory , scrum half Graham Barr!

They are well known to us as a club with a very good mini’s & youth setup, I am sure many of you have spent many morning’s  in Richmond Park, wonderful in late September, not so great in January.

Previous games between Ealing Trailfinders 1st XV & Rosslyn Park FC

As can be seen we have had some tight games, 11 points being the biggest winning margin. Games have tended to go with the home team – Let’s hope it changes this weekend! 

06/10/07 Rosslyn Park 21 Ealing Trailfinders 1st XV 10

09/02/08 Ealing Trailfinders 1st XV 26 Rosslyn Park 20

06/09/08  Ealing Trailfinders 1st XV 19 Rosslyn Park 8

18/04/09 Rosslyn Park 26 Ealing Trailfinders 1st XV 21

REPORT: Weybridge Vandals 19 – 34 Ealing Evergreens

Ealing Evergreens got back to winning ways on Saturday with a well deserved win away at Weybridge Vandals in the Surrey Vets League Division 1.  The injured players list gets longer every week and on Friday I was concerned about how we would field a full XV but we managed to actually have two subs and everyone who played was in their chosen position which was a huge problem for us in our last two games.

Borrowed Exiles player Steve Richards combined with Ash Spencer and myself to make up the front row.  As usual, Paul Clarke and Bill Miller the First were the second rows with Brendan O’Flaherty, Jamie Carlin and John Ronane in the back-row.  Half backs were Dave Brathwaite and Bryn Worth.  Centres Dave Steene and Paul Hoban with Eric Murray on one wing and Paul Lowen on the other.  Full-back Simon Slattery completed a useful looking back-line.   Subs were Mark Rutherford who replaced the injured Eric on the wing after 5 minutes and Bill Miller the Second (we need new nick-names) who came on for BOF in the second half.

When you play Weybridge you know you can expect a forward battle and we decided that the best plan of attack for us would be to give our backs the ball as much as possible and let them run everything.  It was obvious after a few minutes that this was without doubt where we were best as Steeny, Paul H and Slatts carved open the Weybridge defence on several occasions but it wasn’t until half an hour into the game that we finally scored with Slatts again coming into the line well to glide through for a try which went unconverted.    This was scant reward for all the rugby we had played but given the chances we were creating we knew that the scores would come if we stayed patient.

But instead we did the one thing you don’t want to do after scoring and that’s concede one yourself immediately after.  To be fair to Weybridge they worked hard to create the try with a succession of drives and their two big strike runners were a constant threat throughout the game.  Weybridge converted their try and we went into half-time behind 7 – 5.  I wasn’t especially concerned at half-time as it was obvious that we had played more of the rugby.  The main thing was to stop going high on their big runners because they were just boshing through and only the fantastic cover work of the back-row had been making up for it.  Also, the big Weybridge pack looked to be tiring just a little bit more than us.  I even described them as being “flahed”, a bit of Cork slang I don’t think I’ve used in 10 years!  Only BOF knew what I meant.  

The second half started with Weybridge scoring again through their big centre with possibly every member of the Ealing team missing a tackle on him.  We then went to uncontested scrums when the Weybridge captain and tight-head went off injured.  By now though it was all Ealing with Slatts adding two more tries to complete a hat-trick.  Hmm, don’t think we saw a jug in the bar though?  One of those tries was just a perfect execution of what our Plan A had been.  Good rucking with quick ball to the backs, through the hands, Slatts coming with a great run into the line at half way and running in 40 yards beating the winger out wide.  Bryn Worth added two more tries both celebrated with the most extravagant exhibition of diving since Jurgen Klinsmann retired.  To be fair I think the first one was meant as two fingers to the defender who had just tried to take the head off him with a swinging arm.

But then came what had to be the best score of the game.  Mine.  I’m not sure there is anyone in the Ealing borough who hasn’t been talked through the try by me last night but I don’t mind repeating myself!  At a lineout on the halfway line Ash Spencer signalled to me that he had seen the Weybridge line was out of position so we used a move we’ve had between us for years.  A short throw to Ash saw him take off up the 5 yard line and bosh through the first tackler.  Thirty yards to go and the full back was coming up to challenge Ash with me sprinting alongside screaming for the ball.  Many years of playing with Ash meant that I knew he was probably thinking of chipping over the full back or something but he drew the full back and gave me the inside pass.  Now I just had to turn on the gas (me? Gas?) and beat the cover defenders and then round the last one to touch down under the posts.  Apparently Paul Clarke got so excited watching me and Ash that he broke into a gentle canter himself!

Steeny converted and though Weybridge scored a third try, we were convincing winners.

We played some really good rugby at times and other than the middle 20 minutes, we were in control of the game.  Well done and thanks to Steve Richards for helping us out at prop.  He did a fine job and will be welcomed back any time he likes.  I thought our back row were fantastic again, all three putting in a huge amount of work around the field.  But principally it was the class in our back line that made it such an enjoyable win.  If Dave Steene could afford a set of studs for his boots he would surely have scored but he made a lot of great breaks and himself and Bryn combined really well with Bryn, despite probably being the smallest man on the field, proving a real handful for their defence.  Slatts at full-back showed real class with the ball in hand and Weybridge never really figured out how to cope with his constant threat.  

So a great away win at a venue where nothing comes easy and we can take great confidence from this result.  If we had this back-line down at Barnes last week it would have been a different story.  But we have the chance to prove that in two weeks when we have our first home game of the season against Esher on November 7th at Trailfinders, Vallis Way.  Finally, thank you and well done to all the boys who played on Saturday.  Two league wins out of three games means it’s all to play for in Division 1.

Declan Cronin

Scores:

Ealing Evergreens – 34
Tries: Slattery (3), Worth (2), Cronin
Cons: Steene (2)

 
Weybridge Vandals – 19
Tries: 3
Cons: 2

REPORT: Ealing Trailfinders 1st XV 52-7 Bridgwater & Albion

Another great home win cements second place as leaders Barking win, Clifton have no fixture, and Rosslyn Park draw away at Dings.    

 

This Saturday Ealing Trailfinders 1st XV face one of the biggest games of the season, away to Rosslyn Park. But, their preparation for the London derby, with a home fixture against struggling Somerset team Bridgewater and Albion, couldn’t have gone much better. An eight-try home win cemented second place behind Barking.

A patient start against Bridgewater’s obvious determination to not ship too many points early on, led to just two Ben Ward penalties. But then Ealing’s superb winger Phil Chesters opened his account for the afternoon when Ealing’s pacey backs moved the ball to him in a yard of space. Chesters’ speed is phenomenal, and time and time again he simply outpaced the Bridgewater defence. Bridgewater’s strength lies in a powerful pack which they used on several occasions to make good progress, but they lacked Ealing’s ability to turn good positions into points. Towards the end of the first half Ealing started to really turn the screw. The forwards claimed two tries, the first from the excellent Scott Hodson from close range, and then after a tasty cross field kick from Ward, Dave Francis took three defenders with him over the try line.
 
At 25-0 at the half time mark, Ealing knew that Bridgewater would come out fighting. Sure enough, a good spell led to a converted try for Bridgewater Centre Michael Mangeolles on 45 minutes.
 
But, sadly for them that was their last score as Ealing took the initiative and started to dominate the tiring visitors. Ealing often revel in the narrow defences that second half fatigue can bring. With Ward quick to recognise the opportunities to release the talented backs around him, it was the Ealing backs half. Bryan Young,a 48th minute substitute, scored twice, the second after Chesters made another blistering run down the left wing, and then dropped a perfect chip for Young to touch down. It was then time for Kiba Richards to use his speed from the other Ealing wing to claim two more. But Chesters finished off in style with his second, which Ward slotted over for a personal 12-point haul. Ward was quite rightly named man of the match – it may be other names who get the tries but it is Ward that identifies when to strike, and marshalls the buckets of pace that surround him. His kicking out of hand has always been a huge strength but his ability to ring the changes has been a key factor in a rejuvenated Ealing side.
 
Ealing Trailfinders  Tries: Chesters (2), Young (2), Richards (2) Hodson, Francis
Cons:  Ward (3)
Pens : Ward (2)
 
Bridgwater & Albion        Try: Mangeolles
Con:  Chennells
 

Ward controls things

REPORT: Kilburn Cosmos II 13 – 10 Ealing Exiles

Saturday saw the Exiles travel to the pastures of Willesden to take on Kilburn Cosmos II.  Nick Greenhalgh reports.

On paper the Exiles were looking like a reasonable side with all positions covered and a reasonable two substitutes, unlike last weekend where we actually fielded 27 different players much to the detriment of quality and consistency.

We arrived in good time and were able to warm up and pass the ball around for an unusually long pre-match period.  Best of all, the teamsheet contained the name of long-missed hairy-palmed Exiles’ captain, Barry Cousins.  Barry had been out of action having had an operation on his palm which required a skin graft from a hairier part of his body!  Only Dave MacS arrived late, and as he is training for the Marathon des Sables he ought to be fined by having to run from home to our next match.

The scrum had a front row of Barry, Peter and Steve R (the Elder Statesman), a powerhouse Julian and Eff in the second row, with Chester and Stef flanking and me (Nick) at number 8.  Out in the backs, the line comprised James O’B (9), Spike (10), Ainsley (12), Paul T (13), Michael T (11), Fabio (14) and Alun (15).  The bench held Dave MacS (later played 7, with Chester moving to prop and Barry taking a break) and Marsh (second-half flanker; James O’B came off and Stef took the scrum-half slot).

The boys were pretty psyched up for the game for kick off and the game started at a frantic rate.  Early on the opposition managed to get a scrum near our 22 and after a quick pick-up sent it wide to the wing where they managed to evade Fabio and run in a nice try (though they thankfully failed to convert it).

Shortly after this, Cosmos scored another try, this time passing it out wide to their winger whose pace again allowed him to evade many an Exile.  The conversion was missed again and the Exiles were 0-10 down with about ten minutes played.

Barry left the field at this point and Dave MacS came on.  This resulted in Chester getting an opportunity to continue to work on his propping skills (something I am sure he will miss once he leaves the fine West London boroughs and heads to Australia with his far better-half, Lou, at the end of the month).  As is typical this resulted in many fracas with his opposite number, but which also managed to instil some more fight into the rest of the team.  The scrum morphed into quite a force, allowing us to drive Cosmos back with reasonable ferocity on several occasions.

However, like a wounded animal fighting for life, the opposition struck back with a similar venom.  I can attest to this as, at number 8, I attempted to pick up the ball, and just as my fingers reached it the opposition coordinated a massive shove which resulted in both packs trundling over my flattened body.  Luckily my nose managed to protect me from serious harm.  More luckily, Luton was not there to capture it on film this weekend.

So the Exiles engine room started to boil and the backs raised their game.  Ainsley and Paul were running some good lines and making good in-roads.  After switching ends, we had the benefit of the wind and slope.  The Exiles took control of the game and started to shut the opposition down nicely.  They managed to make hardly any breaks in the latter sixty minutes of the game.  However, they did defend well, and we missed out on several overlap opportunities.

Finally after camping out on their tryline for several phases, Chester managed to get the Exiles on the scoreboard with a neat pick-up from the back of a ruck and a strong dive for the line: he was not going to be stopped from there!  We missed the kick but felt things were on the up.

After a few more passages of play Ainsley managed to jump and skip and sprint his way through to the try line where he was felled just short, but with a fine long reach he planted that ball bang on the white line!  The conversion was just a little shy of the uprights; well, according to Barry, who as ever in his impartiality, decided not to allow the kick despite the opposition’s touch judge raising his flag.  You might think that if one raises and the other does not, we should get one point!

The Exiles now stood on the wrong side of a 13-10 scoreline but the scent of victory was in the air and it was palpable!  Not long to go, though with the opposition fighting for survival, surely today would be the day the Exiles won their first league game of the 09/10 campaign?

Working hard again as a team, there were several breaks from the backs and some strong runs from the forwards, as well as several conversations between the referee, me, the opposition’s captain, Chester and his sparring partner.  Steve R almost managed to cross the line but did not quite manage it, and time was fast running out.  Cosmos then gave away a penalty not far from their 22 and the referee informed us that we had no time even for a line out.  This was it, the last chance!

Offering the run to Eff, who declined, led to me taking the ball in hand on the first charge.  I managed to hammer into the opposition and lay it back ready for the next pod to fire into the Cosmos defense.  This went well, until I managed to get hold of the ball again and take it back into the opposition.  I heard Paul T crying for the ball, turned and popped it to him.  Sadly this was not the best pop nor the best catch, and the ball was knocked on for the final whistle to then be blown and put an end to what we felt would surely have been a great Exiles win.  Defeat was snatched from the jaws of victory!

Having said that, the Exiles showed that they are getting there.  We are having a hard time in these league matches but the quality of play on Saturday shows things are getting better!  We should be proud of what we achieved, and not dwell too hard on our failure – the Exiles season is long!  Bring it on!

After the match the Exiles were welcomed back to the Cosmos clubhouse where we were well fed and then beaten again in a boat race.  They stitched our front runner (Pete) with fizzy lager!  Dave MacS and I, with our warm Guinness, had no chance to put things right.  Mind you they all had lager – I guess these Kilburn fellas are a different breed!

Even later that day, Chester and Lou put on a splendid do in Chiswick to celebrate the time they have had in the UK with their friends.  As previously mentioned they shortly leave the country and head back to the hemisphere whence they came.  I would like to give Chester a big Exiles thank you for all his work over the years with the Exiles, on and off the pitch.  A mine of entertaining stories, some more self-deprecating than others, we will miss the big man but be thankful that the price of chicken will surely drop by many percentage points!  Cheers, Chester!

 

Kilburn Cosmos II 13 Ealing Exiles 10
Tries: (2) Tries: Chester, Ainsley
Cons:   Cons:  
Pens: (1) Pens:  
Drops:   Drops:  

Ealing Trailfinders 1st XV v B&A 24th October

Two home games on the trot – Ahh bliss to those die hard supporters who travel all over the country supporting the Ealing Trailfinders 1st XV.

This weekend we host Bridgwater & Albion RFC. It’s a long trip from Somerset but one that given their win over rivals Dings Crusaders last weekend, one they will be looking forward to.

Bridgwater DoR Mike Teweksbury  has recently bolstered his squad. George Davies a prop with premiership experience  (Bristol, Worcester) has joined them from Plymouth Albion, and 2nd row Dan Collier also joins them as well.

The season has not started well for Bridgwater, indeed they remain rooted to the foot of the table with 1 win from their 6 games so far. They did hold league leaders Barking to a 16-0 defeat when the East London side made the trip to Somerset a couple of weeks ago.  Matt Richards & Kane Palmer Newport have 2 tries to their name whilst Stuart Evans tops the scoring list with 17 points.

"Bridgwater and Albion R.F.C. an amalgamation of Bridgwater, founded in the late 1860’s and Bridgwater Albion, founded in 1876, formed the present Club in 1920. In 1912 Bridgwater could claim a record unique in Rugby Football. On January 21st the Club Captain Bob Dibble skippered the English Rugby Union side to victory over Wales at Twickenham whilst his former Club colleague Tom Woods skippered the English Rugby League side to victory also over Wales. Bob Dibble was the only Bridgwater player ever to tour with the Lions when he went lo New Zealand in that season. Rugby flourished in the Town during the twenties after the amalgamation, and the Club forwards were known as the "One Ton" pack. During this period many great players wore the Bridgwater colours. Jimmy Jarvis, one of the best half-backs in the Country but who never won a cap; Jimmy Barrington later capped when with Bristol; Jack Swayne capped from the Club in 1929 and Jack Snook to mention but a few. During the last war the Ground was ploughed up for allotments but it was repossessed in 1946 and an energetic Committee set about restoring the Club to its former status. A new Grandstand was erected in 1952; a new Clubhouse in 1963 and Floodlighting the year after. In the post war period four players have won County Blazers and many others won County Caps."

 

Recent results between Ealing & Bridgwater

15/09/07 Ealing Trailfinders 34 B&A 10
5/01/08 B&A 22 Ealing Trailfinders 27
29/11/08 B&A 17 Ealing Trailfinders 39
21/03/09 Ealing Trailfinders 30 B&A 8

Other N2S games this weekend

Barking v Worthing – Barking too strong against a Worthing side who are struggling to kill games off – Home Win by some margin.

Canterbury v Henley – Canterbury are still in 5th place but have shipped in over 120 points in two games – Crisis? Maybe but they should be too strong for injury hit Henley – A close home win to regain some confidence

Dings v Rosslyn Park – Park too strong for Dings – Away win

Lydney v Southend – Interesting game. Southend came to life last week  with a good win over Mond. Should be too strong for Lydney – Away win

Richmond v Westcombe Park – Another close game?  8th v 7th placed – Home advantage to tell – Home win ( but close)

Shelford v Barnes – Barnes having a hard time so far, they lost on the road last weekend, and will again this coming one. Shelford too good at home – Home win.