Author Archives: Paul Clarke

The Academy travel to Nottingham’s Lady Bay Ground on Sunday 14th April, in their penultimate 15-a-side game of the season. The game will kick off at 2.00pm and looks set to be another huge challenge. The boys are looking to reverse the last minute defeat at Vallis Way earlier in the season.

There will be several new faces pulling on an Ealing jersey for the first time. Arthur Fitt and Luke Perkins are both recent recruits to the squad.

Academy U19 Head Coach, Tom Gamage said “We are really excited fir this young group of U19 players to go out against, what will no doubt be a strong Nottingham outfit. There is some incredible talent in the squad and it’s a great opportunity for some new players to make their Academy debuts after impressing in training.

We really see what opposition like Nottingham do for the development of their players. We expect there to be some great learning moments, but also a brilliant chance to put into practice, some of what the players have been working on over the last month or so.

I personally can’t wait to see what the players can produce.”

There is still room on the team bus available. If you’d like to grab a seat, call Academy Manager, Annie Lyndon to book a spot.

Ealing Trailfinders Academy 29 – 22 Cambridge University II

Just like Wednesday night, the overnight deluge cleared to leave a beautiful Autumn day for a game of rugby.

An impeccably observed minutes silence to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the end of the Great War set the scene for kick off.

The young Trailfinders were slow out of the blocks, allowing Cambridge to dominate possession and territory in the early exchanges. Almost inevitably, the Light Blues crashed over after several powerful carries. We continued to allow ourselves to be drawn into attritional passages of play, kicking against the wind. We were too often pinned back into our own half.

A change of approach brought the rewards, excellent counter attacking and support play saw Ben Bridgewood over the line, Harry Vidler kicked the conversion.

This should have shown the way forward, however we failed to capitalise. We were guilty of leaving the ball carrier isolated and were uncharacteristically, a little passive around the tackle.

This malaise infected our set piece too, in turn we allowed Cambridge to score again before the break.

The second half saw a much more energetic and ambitious approach, aggressive carrying through the tackle and quick recycling led to 3 quick fire scores. Harrison Slater got the first, from a cross-field kick by openside flanker, Alex Turton. Will Day and winger Tom Agu-Benson, both crossed after strong line breaks. Harry Vidler added another conversion.

With the bench players joining the fray, you’d expect a drop in performance. If 6 of those were Academy U18, you’d bank on it! However, over the past few weeks, these guys have proved to be resilient and capable, they didn’t disappoint.

Despite conceding another try from more close range attacks, an excellent counter attacking solo effort from centre Josh Steadman looked like putting the game beyound Cambridge’s reach. Not so…A couple of errors allowed them to get within 5m of our line, fantastic Attack-Defence held the line for multiple phases but we were breached to set up an exciting final 3 minutes.

With the set pice once again stable, scrum half Lucas Brathwaite, reacted well to a wheel and broke down field, a kick ahead meant there was too much for Cambridge to do and the game ended in their 22.

Academy Director John Lacey said “This was a tough one today. Cambridge posed us some real problems in the set piece and with their close quarter attack.

We’re over the moon that we again found a way to win, we adapted well and avoided the arm wrestle, played wider and at pace. It’s what we train for and what we do best.

The younger lads who came in after Wednesday’s U20 game at Henley, paid back our trust in them, they closed out a game that was way above their usual level of competition.

We’re very proud of all the boys today, they have to carry this on to their NAtional Colts Cup game next week and Nottingham the week after”.

Ealing Trailfinders Academy

slater, Agu-Benson, Steadman, Godfrey, Bridgewood, Vidler, Segre, Day (c), Turton, Keheli, Accelam, Chukwuma, Robbins, Joyce, Collins

Replacements

Hodson, Bannister, Barton, Gilbert, Bowler, Ahmed, Brathwaite, Rolfo, Berrington, Monponbanua, Moceica

Scorers

Tries – Bridgewood, Slater, Day, Agu-Benson, Steadman J

Cons – Vidler (2)

Henley Hawks U20 10 – 26 Ealing Trailfinders Academy

The rain cleared in time for kick off at Henley’s Dry Leas ground. The traffic didn’t…

This was the first meeting at the U20 age group for both clubs, with Henley keen to provide a player development group to help young players transition into adult rugby at National League level.

Eight players had earned a place in the Ealing squad off the back of some impressive Academy U18 games. Two more players on trial were also included in the match day squad. This made organisation a challenge but we train to embrace that.

Henley were a tough tackling outfit, repelling attack after attack. We would rightly be accused of playing too narrow, too often. But we also moved the ball well at times despite the greasy conditions. A Harry Vidler try and conversion was all we had to show for a half where we dominated both possession and territory.

The second half was a better example of manipulating the defence, playing wider and in waves. Three tries followed with two from prop Charlie Bannister and a fine individual effort from winger, James Booth.

Henley scored two tries of their own, which were just reward for a much improved 2nd half performance, especially from their ever dangerous inside centre.

Academy Director, John Lacey (speaking in the broken jaw absence of U20 Head Coach Tom Gammage) said “The boys did well to find a way to win that game, we struggled to break down Henley in the first half. We kept hammering away, but they kept knocking us back. We’ve been working hard on manipulating space but obviously need more time to hone that skill.I was impressed with the U18 boys, especially Connor Bowler and Adam Gilbert in the back row who ran themselves into the ground.

Our two trialists did really well, with only one training session under their bet, that was a big ask tonight.

We now have to recover quickly, do some gentle prep tomorrow night for Sundays game against Cambridge University U23”.

Please be aware that game on Sunday will be held at Merchant Taylor’s School, Moor Park, Northwood, HA6 2HT. See you there!!

Ealing Trailfinders Academy
Agu-Benson, Booth, Berrington, Godfrey, Moceica, Vidler, Brathwaite, Keheli, Gilbert, Bowler, Acellam, Pitkin, Robbins, Hoban, Barton

Replacements

Bannister, Ziya-Zadeh, Ahmed, Chukwuma, Monponbanua, Rolfe, Rose, Harris

Scorers

Tries – Vidler, Booth, Bannister (2)

Cons – Vidler (3)

Wednesday will see the Academy play against a Henley Hawks U20 side for the first time.

Its a great opportunity for the younger players in the squad to show what they have been learning over the last few weeks. With Sunday’s fixture against Cambridge University looming, It’s also a great chance to experience the stresses of a quick turnaround. The demands on the body and mind this brings will be interesting when we review our performance.

Academy U20 Head Coach, Tom Gammage said “Its been good to lead the squad for the last couple of weeks, culminating in a combined U18 & U20 session last Thursday.

A few of the lads put their hands up and will have a big part to play up at Dry Leas, almost half the team will be U18, thats a great advert for the Emerging Player Group and also the Gold Group who train with the Senior Academy.

Its great to have a new opponent in the schedule and we hope this works out well for Henley as they look to grow a Development group.”