Venue: Goresbrook
Ealing Trailfinders suffered their first league defeat of the season this Saturday, in a game full of tries, away to league leaders Barking. Four first half tries from an unbeaten Barking side, meant that the visitors had to battle to salvage a bonus point thanks to three second half tries from Phil Chesters.
But Ealing were the first to score a try. An interception in midfield gave Ealing Trailfinders flyhalf Ben Ward an unopposed run-in for five points. Ealing coach Mike Cudmore will, however, be disappointed that Barking were able to run in four relatively soft tries in the first half, without further reply from the visitors. The first came when Ealing found themselves exposed in defence and were no match for Barking’s swift back line, who ran in to score their first try of six.
A powerful Barking catch and drive produced a well worked try. The Barking pack is a heavyweight one, and they used their power to control the ball in the tight.
Falling behind, Ealing Trailfinders chasing the game tried to attack from deep, but the ball was turned over and lead to Barking’s third try of the afternoon after an attempted offload didn’t go to hand, and the Barking winger was able to win the footrace to score under the posts.
Another Barking try left Ealing Trailfinders trailing 27-8 at half time.
Ealing will be pleased that they ‘won’ the second half. Winger Phil Chesters ran in a hat-trick of tries, the first soon after the break. Ealing Trailfinders at times in the second half had Barking in trouble but did not always manage to covert the pressure into points.
Phil Chesters goes over for his 3rd try of the day. Picture Tom Peppiat
Barking scored two more tries before Ealing finished the afternoon strongly with the second and third of Phil Chesters’ tries, the third earning the visitors a valuable four-try bonus point. Ealing Traifinders will be disappointed with their first half performance but will be pleased with the teams response when they came out in the second half. I am sure they will look forward to the return fixture later in the season.
Ealing now sit 5th in National 2 South having played one less game than league leaders Barking who are retained their 100% start to the season. Ealing are now looking to take maximum points from their next game against Canterbury, who currently lie in 3rd place, having taken 14 points from their first 3 games.
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