Ampthill RUFC vs Ealing Trailfinders

Match Report

Ealing Trailfinders fell to a 29-21 defeat against Ampthill away at Dillingham Park.

Tries from Lloyd Williams, Rayn Smid, and Cian Kelleher were not enough to garner any points from Trailfinders’ trip to Bedfordshire.

The result leaves the West London outfit at the top of the table with a 10-point gap to Coventry in second.

The game started with Trailfinders on top. Exploiting a dominant set piece, they won back-to-back penalties from their hosts in the first ten minutes.

Ampthill managed to keep the men in green and white out initially, that is until Nathan Earle brilliantly broke down the right and found Williams on his inside feeding the Welshman over the whitewash.

Trailfinders kept the pressure on after the opening score but could not break the Ampthill defences for large swathes of the first term.

It was so much so that Brandon Jackson brought the home side level after 28 minutes, as Ampthill re-asserted themselves on the occasion.

However, the travellers grabbed the momentum right back when Dan O’Brien broke down the right wing and found Smid with a magical offload to send the South African under the sticks.

Then, on the stroke of half time, Kelleher produced one of the season’s best scores.

After receiving a looping wide ball from Billy Twelvetrees, the Dublin native chipped the ball over the Ampthill defence and regathered to soar over the line in the right-hand corner.

That score meant that the teams went into the sheds with the scoreboard reading 7-21 to Trailfinders, with the league leaders in command.

Half-time was when disaster struck for Trailfinders, however, as replacement hooker Henry Walker was substituted due to injury, meaning Flanker Richard Hardwick was forced to throw in at the line out, and scrums would be uncontested.

As a result, Ampthill regained control of the game as the set piece that had been so dominant for Trailfinders was taken apart.

The hosts scored 22 unanswered points, and a Josh Barton penalty kick in the 77th minute ensured Trailfinders left Bedfordshire without any points.

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