Author Archives: Paul Clarke

The Academy side to face London Welsh Griffins on Saturday 31st March at Old Deer Park, the game kicks off at 14:00.

There is a great mix of ages in the side.

Under 17 players, flanker Anthony John-Cyrus makes his first start for the Senior Academy and Scrum Half Lucas Brathwaite continues his great season with a bench spot.

Lock Devis Accelam continues to improve and starts behind prop Harry Robbins from the Under 18s. Chris Monponbanua completes the line up from the Junior Academy.

We also have two players making their debuts for the club. Flanker Haseen Hashim has impressed in training, he is currently studying at Henley College. Fly Half Ewan Starling also makes his first appearance from the replacements.

The Easter break gives an opportunity to our Distance Members, who are continuing their University studies, to reconnect with the Academy programme. Nyall Wake (Reading), Josh Steadman (Manchester), Yun Shun Luk (Brighton), Michael Rugeley (Hartpury) and Funbi Osuntoki (Aberdeen) all feature.

We are really grateful to London Welsh for going the extra mile to rearrange the fixture after all the bad weather.

1. Robbins, Harry
2. Joyce, Chris
3. Eubank-Anderson, Akeem
4. Wake, Nyall
5. Accelam, Devis
6. Hashim, Haseen
7. John-Cyrus, Antony
8. Hill, Alfie
9. Steadman, Josh
10. Nolan-Hutchinson, Callum
11. Booth. James
12. Luk, Yun Shun
13. Morris, Ollie
14. Bridgewood, Ben
15. Rugeley, Michael

16, Barton, Andrew
17. Osuntoki, Funbi
18. Brathwaite, Lucas
19. Vidler, Harry
20. Starling, Ewan
21. Monponbanua, Chris

John Martin Estates, Pitshanger’s Community Estate Agent, has agreed to sponsor this year’s inaugural Championship U20’s Tournament. The Tournament brings together the very best of the Championship’s U20’s talent together with several invitation only U20’s teams and is being held at Ealing Trailfinders’ ground in Ealing on Sunday 22nd April 2018.

The day will see the emerging U20’s national rugby talent battling it out for the new trophy.

John Martin has been an estate agent in Ealing for over 30 years and his passion for property is only exceeded by his love of rugby. A keen supporter of the local community, his business has
previously supported many local initiatives including previous support of Ealing Trailfinders and close involvement with London Wasps Academy as mentor and sponsor.

The inaugural Tournament will showcase the best of the best in U20’s Championship rugby nationally and John will join the experienced judges on the day selecting the best performances for special recognition – acknowledging the players’ potential as future stars of the game.

John Martin said, ‘We’ve been involved in supporting our local community since I founded the business over 20 years ago and I am absolutely delighted we can play a part in this excellent initiative for the emerging talent in national rugby. To bring the national U20’s Championship teams together for a tournament at Trailfinders will be a feast for rugby fans – it’s great to be involved in what will, I am sure, be a fantastic day’.

John Lacey, Academy Director at Trailfinders replied, ‘John Martin Estates is an outstanding local business and we’ve always appreciated their support – it’s fantastic to have them involved in our new tournament initiative and in this opportunity to bring together and highlight the very best of not only the Championship but also the wider group of young men and women enjoying rugby in the UK.’

Contact: John Lacey – academydirector@ealingrugby.co.uk

Just a couple of days to go before the Academy U23 take on the UK Armed Forces and its with great pleasure we can announce that four more members of the Academy U18 have been invited to train and play with the Senior Academy.

18 year old second row Devis Acellam has impressed since Christmas, He played very well against Moseley and again last week against England Counties.

He will be joined by three U17 players, Tom Steene (Centre), Lucas Brathwaite (Scrum Half) and Kairo Rodrigo-Payne (Back Row). All three were also involved in last weeks game and performed beyond their years.

They have all earned a spot in the squad to play against the best young players from the Armed Forces on Sunday.

Academy Director, John Lacey said “Devis has been close to a call up to the Senior Academy group all season. Only injury prevented earlier inclusion. He has a lot of hard work ahead of him as we look to him improving his conditioning.

We are very excited about the U17 lads. Tom and Kairo have recently been released by Wasps and London Irish Academies respectively. We hope this development will give them a positive to focus on.

Lucas has been getting big reviews from the U18 coaches, we are looking to convert him to a 9, he played there against England Counties and was very impressive.

Its the first time we have included U17 players in the Senior Academy but it shows the improving standards we are achieving through the structure.

it will a real tough test for the boys on Sunday, the UKAF side are very good and always produce quality rugby. We came very close to our first win against them last year”.

Everyone at the Academy would love to see a good crowd at Vallis Way for the game. Kick off is at 14:30

STORM Watches have agreed to sponsor this year’s inaugural Championship U20’s Tournament. The Tournament brings together the very best of the Championship’s U20’s talent together with several invitation only U20’s teams and is being held at Ealing Trailfinder’s ground in Ealing on Sunday 22nd April 2018.

The day will see the emerging U20’s national rugby talent battling it out on the day for the new trophy.

The partnership with STORM Watches will see the launch of the new ‘STORM One to Watch’ programme, where a group of professional judges will select the best of the best in U20’s Championship rugby on the day for special recognition – acknowledging their potential as a future star of the game.

Alya Kepa, STORM brand manager says: ‘With more and more sport being enjoyed at a grass roots level and with U20’s rugby enjoying increasing attention this is a great way to reward good performance and put STORM Watches on the arms of today’s top U20’s rugby talent. We are really looking forward to supporting the day and to watching the stars of the future develop.’

John Lacey, Ealing Trailfinders Academy Director said “It’s great to have STORM Watches as a global brand supporting this first (of many) tournaments and giving us their help to literally kick things off. We are growing our sponsorship partnerships to help fund this initiative in bringing together and highlighting the very best of not only the Championship but also the wider group of young men and women enjoying rugby in the UK.’

For further Tournament information including sponsorship and participation enquiries please contact:  academydirector@ealingrugby.co.uk

With barely time to draw breath, the Academy prepare to take on the UK Armed Forces U23 at Vallis Way this Sunday 18th March.

Our annual meeting is a great opportunity to measure our progress against the best young players selected from the Army, Navy and RAF as they build up to their season finale against a combined Oxford & Cambridge University U23 side at Twickenham.

Academy Director John Lacey said “We have had an exciting few weeks in the Academy, but this is the big one. We look forward every year to, what has become the pinnacle of our season. This game is at a level that few of the boys have experienced before.

It is an excellent chance for our lads, we’re looking to introduce some of the boys who did well against England Counties U18 last week. We are trying to accelerate the development of the boys and there will be some announcements along those lines before the weekend”.

Kick off on Sunday is at 14:30, entry as always is free. If you’d like to see 2 ambitious sides play some great rugby, come along and cheers the boys on!

Ealing Trailfinders Academy U19 12 – 48 England Counties U18

On a landmark day for the club, the Academy came up short against an England side that proved too strong around the park for the young Trailfinders.

The first half could be described as a one sided affair as the Vallis Way side suffered with stage fright and failed to secure the possession needed to put good sides under pressure. A disappointment given the dominant set piece we enjoyed.

England Counties however were very comfortable with and without the ball. Applying pressure on the Academy attack and forcing a string of mistakes. They also showed great composure to put away several chances and went in 24-0 at half time.

The second half was a very different affair. Having spoken about pride and confidence during the break, they showed exactly that from the whistle. A superb tackle from lock forward and Ealing man of the match Devis Acclem set the standard for 25 minutes great rugby.

Periods of dominant attacking play were rewarded with line breaks as well as meters gained. Inside centre Tom Steene looked dangerous alongside hard running skipper Ollie Morris.

The first score of the half went to hooker Luke Parry. A well deserved reward for a tough shift in the front row. Harry Vidler converted from the tee.

Added to the much improved attack, the defence really unsettled the Red Roses, and Ciaran Poynter read the play well to intercept a wide pass to run in from half way.

At 12-24, the Academy were certainly in the ascendency, some well placed replacements from the England bench steadied the ship. A try against the run of play when it looked like great work had secured a turnover, turned the tide.

Despite some valiant efforts, the superior ability of the opposition forced errors from our boys. As in the first half, few chances were missed. England ran out deserved winners.

It has to be said that this was a massive opportunity for the Academy and we can’t thank the England coaching and management team for its offer to play this a fixture. We would like to wish them all the very best when they take on Ireland in 3 weeks time, we’ll be watching to see how you get on!!

There’s barely time to catch breath, next week we play the United Kingdom Armed Forces U23 at Vallis Way, a game we have never won, last season a lte try snatched victory for the combined Services side.

We hope you can make it to the club to cheer on the boys.

Finally, thanks to all our very generous sponsors who supported todays game. We really appreciate your belief in development rugby and hope we can work together again in the future.

Ealing Trailfinders Academy

Vidler, Booth, Morris (c), Steene, Oranu, Poynter, Brathwaite, Wilson, Price, Smith, Acclem, West, Eubank-Anderson, Parry, Robbins

Replacements

Stoute, Ziya-Zadeh, McAllister, John-Cyrus, Rodrigo-Payne, Bowler, Monponbanua, Otway, Rowan, Rolfo, Rose

Scorers

Tries – Parry, Poynter

Cons – Vidler