Academy Archives - Ealing Trailfinders Rugby Club

New Trailfinders Rugby Academy Coaches

Trailfinders Rugby Academy is thrilled to announce the arrival of three new coaches for the 2024/25 season.

Alex Stajka, Craig Newby and Marlen Walker have been brought in as Assistant Academy Coaches, specialising in attack, defence and forwards respectively.

With their impressive track records in professional rugby, both as players and coaches, we are confident that Alex, Craig and Marlen will bring our team a new level of expertise and success.

Stajka has held skills coach roles with the Western Force Academy and Australia U20 sides before taking on the attacks and skills coach role with the Western Force Senior Elite Academy. He has recently been the Head Coach at Perth Gold and the University of Western Australia.

All Black Newby, who won three caps for his country, was a product of Rotorua Boys’ High School. He went on to play over 60 times for the Highlanders and also won the 2001 World Cup and 2002 Commonwealth Games with the New Zealand 7s side. He also had a highly successful four-year stint at Leicester Tigers.

Following his playing career, he has most recently been working as a Skills Coach for Ulster since 2021. He has also held roles as a Forwards and Defence Coach at NEC in Japan, Academy Forwards and Defence Coach at Wasps, and Head of Rugby at St John’s, Leatherhead.

Walker came through the ranks at Auckland Blues and played for New Zealand Schools side before stints in Australia and Germany as a player. The Kiwi front row amassed 184 appearances for Cornish Pirates over nine years in Cornwall. He has also coached at Truro School and in the Exeter Chiefs DPP.

For interested players, scholarships and bursaries are still available for the 2024/25 season. Please contact academy@etprm.com for more information.

Academy, News

The Young Talent coming through Trailfinders

Ealing Trailfinders are thrilled to announce the exciting young players in our academy and those who will be stepping up to the first team.

After an impressive three years at the Trailfinders Rugby Academy at Brunel University, prop Lefty Zigiriadis has graduated and steps up to become part of the first team. The loosehead has flourished in the environment at Brunel and was a key part of the team that made it to the BUCS playoff and this year was awarded Player’s Player for the Men’s Academy. In March, he made his first team debut, coming off the bench in our 50-12 Championship victory over Cornish Pirates, and has became the most recent player to have come through the Trailfinders Rugby Academy to represent the first team.

Lock Matt Cannon and scrum-half Dan Hiscocks have both been promoted to our senior academy, alongside back-row Josh Taylor and back Isaac Shaw.

England U18s Hooker Loïc Keasey joins Ealing Trailfinders this year after coming through the Worcester Warriors (now Midlands West) Academy team, he will combine his rugby with studying at Brunel University.

Following on from long term contracts that they previously signed with the club, Harry Dugmore and Tom Georgiou have both finished their studies at Brunel and will continue to train with the first team.

When discussing the academy graduates, Director of Rugby Ben Ward: “Our Trailfinders Rugby Academy at Brunel University is something that we’re all immensely proud of.

“We view it as a unique set-up for rugby in this country, by linking our academy with a university, and so it’s now great to see more players coming through our system.

“We’ve always had good integration, with the boys at Brunel getting opportunities to be involved with us here, and hopefully there will be many more players, who come through our academy in years to come.”

If you are interested in finding more about our Trailfinders Rugby Academy at Brunel University, click here.

Academy, News

Academy Pathway Seminars

Over the next three months we have a range of virtual seminars for players in our academy pathways and potential new recruits to Brunel University.

Goal Setting / Time Management for an aspiring athlete with Tom Mclaughlin – Thursday 9th March

Tom is the High Performance Manager at Ealing Trailfinders and his talk will provide an insight into professional rugby and how to balance time as an academy athlete. It will also explain some stories of how athletes became successful in rugby.

Topic: Goal Setting and Time Management with Tom Mclaughlin

Time: Mar 9, 2023 06:00 PM London

Join Zoom Meeting: https://bruneluniversity.zoom.us/j/6539789600

Meeting ID: 653 978 9600

Passcode: ETFPathway

Sports Psychology with Tom Hodgins – Tuesday 28th March

Tom is the club’s performance psychologist and he will lead a discussion with players who have made the journey to first team rugby at Ealing Trailfinders. Throughout the seminar, they will discuss the highs and lows, sharing lessons and tips which will help you along your way.

Topic: Sports Psychology with Tom Hodgins

Time: Mar 28, 2023 07:00 PM London

Join Zoom Meeting: https://bruneluniversity.zoom.us/j/6539789600

Meeting ID: 653 978 9600

Passcode: ETFPathway

Lessons of experience with past and present Ealing Trailfinders Academy Pathway Players – Tuesday 25th April

This seminar will see pathway players, past and present, speaking about their journey from school rugby to training and playing with the senior rugby squad; lessons they have learned, tips they would have given their Under 18 self and challenges they have faced that have helped them to succeed.

Topic: Lessons of Experience with past and present Academy Pathway Players

Time: Apr 25, 2023 07:00 PM London

Join Zoom Meeting: https://bruneluniversity.zoom.us/j/6539789600

Meeting ID: 653 978 9600

Passcode: ETFPathway

Academy, News

Match Report: Ulster A 19-15 Ealing Trailfinders A

Ealing Trailfinders A put in a valiant performance in Belfast as they fell 19-15 to Ulster A.

The team, which was compiled of 13 players currently in the Trailfinders Rugby Academy based out of Brunel University, were expecting a tough contest against the Northern Irishmen, but ultimately they looked more than able to compete with their URC opposition.

After fears prior to kick off about a frozen pitch were dismissed, the hosts came out of the blocks fast, and almost scored on two occasions, but our scramble defence was able to hold firm.

We slowly built into the game, with our scrum being a particular weapon, as we won four scrum penalties in the first 40, but sadly we were unable to find the final clinical touch which saw us trouble the scoresheet.

Then, on the stroke of half-time and having absorbed 21 phases inside our own 22, Ulster were able to crash over from close range to put them 7-0 up at the break.

In the second half, both teams started well and there was a lot of good rugby on show, yet we were still struggling to make significant inroads inside the Ulster 22.

This was until David Douglas Bridge got his hands on the ball. After several good phases, Ollie Fox noticed a small gap around the ruck. The scrum-half sniped and managed to offload. Quick ball meant that the hosts were constantly retreating and this allowed Bridge to pick up at the breakdown, power forward and stretch every inch of his 6”5’ frame as he grounded the ball on the line. The conversion just sailed wide and it was a two-point game.

Not content with just one score, we were also able to grab the next! A great build up play in the midfield saw us swing the ball from left to right which eventually saw space created on the wing. Dan Lancaster found Epi Rokodrava who managed to offload to release Joaquin Gali. The Spanish U20 international tip-toed down the touchline before passing inside to Fox. The scrum-half was clearly tackled early and before he had caught the ball, but instead of complaining, he was able to pop the ball up to Geordie Gwynn who dived over in the corner. Lancaster impressively converted making it 7-12.

Ulster were able to hit straight back however as they rolling maul powered over as they edged back in front.

With seven minutes to go, we were able to force Ulster to carry the ball back over their try line following a strong kick chase. The subsequent five metre scrum saw us win another penalty and captain Lancaster opted to go for the sticks to put us 14-15 ahead. However, we were unable to reclaim and exit from the kick-off, and Ulster were able to capitalise as they scored in the corner.

Despite our best efforts, Ulster were able to close out the game 19-15. Despite the loss, Head Coach at Trailfinders Rugby Academy Paddy Gill was pleased with the performance and felt it showed the strength of the programme at Brunel University.

We would like to thank Ulster for hosting us in this friendly fixture and we will be hosting Ulster A in a similar match on Friday 6th January at Trailfinders Sports Club.