Ealing Trailfinders 48 Cleve 16

Back to the National Leagues after emphatic victory

Ealing Trailfinders returned to the National Leagues after this emphatic victory over South West opponents earned them the 3rd promotion spot.

On a bright day, Ealing played the style of rugby that their vociferous support has come to expect over the last couple of seasons and proved too powerful for their West Country rivals.

Ealing got out of the starting blocks much more quickly than Cleve and after 3 superb phases of rugby they opened their account when centre Kene Ejikeme burst through to score the opening try. With Ben Ward finding his range early on with the conversion, barely 3 minutes had passed and Ealing were 7 points to the good. Ealing kept up the pressure on Cleve and the forwards started to slowly chip away against the Cleve pack and managed to get some impressive drives going forward.

However, the next score was by Cleve when from their first foray into the Ealing half, after soaking up the
pressure from Ealing, they came away with 3 points from a penalty after the Ealing back line had strayed offside. Then further good handling left a gap in the Cleve defence which Chris Hughes exploited to score under the posts, a try rarer than a round from Hugh Hutchison. Ben Ward added another conversion to extend the lead to 14 - 3. Cleve then tried to hit back, but determined defence from Ealing ensured that the only scoring opportunities Cleve got were from 2 penalties conceded in quick succession which were both converted by the Cleve fly half.

With the lead reduced to only 5 points Cleve started to believe that they had the chance to take the lead and when they were awarded another penalty they spurned the 3 points and kicked for touch and the opportunity to go for 7 points from the lineout. What they didn't consider though, was the resilience that the Ealing defensive line shows when they are under attack and for 8 minutes they repelled everything that Cleve could throw at them. Indeed, Ealing broke out from inside their 22 and made large territorial gains.

With time running out in the first half Dave Essien crashed through to score Ealing's 3rd try and Ben Ward added yet another conversion. Soon after the half time whistle went and it was a dejected Cleve side that stayed out for their half time talk.

But things went from bad to worse for Cleve, when immediately from the kick off they conceded a penalty for not releasing the ball in the tackle, and Ben Ward calmly slotted over the resulting kick. From being only 5 points down just before the end of the 1st half, Cleve now were 15 points behind and all the momentum was with Ealing. When Ealing extended their lead even further after some sloppy tackling by Cleve allowed scrum half Craig Turvey to get his name on the score sheet, converted by Ben Ward, the lead was an impressive 22 points and the game was effectively over as a contest.

However, missed tackles in the middle of the field cost Ealing 7 points when the Cleve inside centre ran through to score a try which was converted by the fly half. That didn't spark the revival that the away supporters were hoping for and Kene Ejikeme added his 2nd try of the day when the Cleve centre chipped the ball straight into Kene's hands instead of finding the space he was after and Kene ran through the remnants of the defence to score under the posts. Ben Ward added his 5th conversion of the day to take his points tally to 18 points.

The home supporters were by now starting the promotion celebrations but the players still had more to give and two tries for Russell Carr following strong drives from the forwards brought the score to 48 - 16, a very fair reflection of the dominance of this hugely impressive Ealing team.

Credit must be given to the coaching team, ably led by Director of Rugby Mike Cudmore, for all their work before and during the season.

This promotion sees Ealing return to National League 3 South after an absence of too many years and also rounds off a wonderful season for the club as a whole. The 2nd Xv effectively won the Middlesex Cup last week, the Development XV won their merit table league and the North West Floodlit Cup, the Exiles were runners up in their Merit Table play- offs, The Evergreens had a successful season and The Ealing Jades women's team won their league. With the minis and youth sides being successful throughout the age groups,
this represents a true strength of a club going forward.

The summer break will be enjoyed by all concerned before returning suitably refreshed to start the endeavours all over again next season. As the Ealing pack might say - "Let's get ready to rumble!"

Malcolm Bentley

May 3, 2007