Ealing Trailfinders vs Rotherham Titans

Match Report

Ealing Trailfinders suffered their second British and Irish Cup defeat in two weeks when Rotherham Titans ran in eight tries in an impressive performance at Vallis Way.

Mark Jones’ side led 31-0 at half-time and while Ealing Trailfinders rallied in the second half through tries from Alex Bradley and Callum Wilson, three more Rotherham tries in the latter stages stopped any hopes of a comeback.

Ealing Trailfinders enjoyed the better of the opening 10 minutes, but Rotherham’s defence held out and after some fierce counter-rucking fly-half Will Goodwin led a counter-attack that Tristan Roberts and James Love teamed up to stop.

The visitors maintained their pressure and after the impressive Tom Calladine was stopped on the line from a rolling maul, prop Mike Cromie kept the move going and drove over from close range.

Goodwin raced in Rotherham’s second try and they continued to build the pressure and Bradley and then Harrison Orr stopped their attempts drive over from scrums on the five metre line.

Eventually the pressure paid off when Calladine was driven over and as half-time approached winger Curtis Wilson twice ran in, the second from a sweeping back-line attack from the back of a scrum.

Wilson completed his hat-trick at the start of the second half when he took advantage of a mix-up in the Ealing Trailfinders defence, but soon after Bradley powered through the Rotherham defence for Ealing Trailfinders’ first points of the day.

Wilson added a second when he found a gap in the centres, but as the match went into the final quarter Rotherham’s reserves reinforced their defence and James McKinney came on to bring new life to their back-line.

It meant the visitors ended in the ascendancy and first Jack Hayes and then Ben Rath ran in tries as the final whistle approached.

Scorers
Ealing Trailfinders
Tries (Bradley 48, Wilson 53), Conversions (Roberts 54)
Rotherham Titans
Tries (Cronie 8, Goodwin 20, Calladine 30, Wilson 33, 38, 41, Hayes 64, Rath 78), Conversions (Goodwin 8, 30, 38, 41)

Ealing Trailfinders
James Love, Chris Kinloch, Toby Howley-Berridge, Callum Wilson, Will Harries, Tristan Roberts, Tom Bliss; Will Davis, Matt Thompson, Sam Rodman, Nathan Hannay, Llewelyn Jones (captain), Alex Bradley, Eoghan Grace, Harrison Orr
Reserves
George Porter, Karl Gibson, Alex Penny, Carwyn Jones, Arthur Ellis, Alex Davies, Danny Barnes

Rotherham Titans
Sean Scanlon (captain), Michael Keating, Jack Hayes, Joe Barker, Curtis Wilson, Will Goodwin, Andy Davies; Michael Cromie, Charlie Maddison, Lewis Thiede, Toby Salmon, Barney Maddison, Kyle Gilmour, Tom Calladine, Josh Redfern.
Reserves
Jack Preece, Robin Hislop, James Elliot, George Oram, Ben Rath, Luke Carter, James McKinney

Referee – Jack Makepeace
Attendance – 356