Ealing Trailfinders vs Ampthill

Match Report

Ealing Trailfinders took complete control of their Championship title destiny with an emphatic 57-14 victory over an in-form Amphtill at Trailfinders Sports Club.

It took the league leaders only two minutes to lay down their marker, as heavy pressure inside the Ampthill 5-metre line allowed Matt Cornish to dive on a charged down box kick and give Trailfinders the lead.

The home side then extended their lead four minutes later through James Cordy-Redden, who ran a hard support line off scrum-half Craig Hampson to crash over the line.

A bizarre try got Ampthill back into the game, as ex-Trailfinders Academy player Brandon Jackson grubber kicked the ball twice to himself down the left flank to then set up Tom Bacon to score under the posts.

It did not take long for Trailfinders hit back however through Craig Willis, who sold the Ampthill defence with a dummy and then spun his way over the line from five metres out.

Willis then turned from scorer to provider as Trailfinders secured the bonus point 27 minutes in, making a brilliant breakaway on the halfway line as he sold the defence with a dummy again, to then pass inside to Dan O’Brien for an easy finish.

Ampthill emerged from the interval the more positive side, and they reduced the deficit through some classy work from Jackson again, who broke down the left with a burst of pace and delivered a delightful pass inside to Charlie Bracken for a simple score.

Trailfinders quashed the brief resurgence however through Richard Hardwick, crashing over the line off the back of the rolling maul.

With Ampthill unable to stop the powerful rolling maul, Mike Willemse then emulated Hardwick’s try ten minutes later to make it 38-14.

Relentless in attack, the home side continued to add on the tries, scoring their seventh through Rayn Smid, powering over the line on the right-hand side.

Next up to score was Cian Kelleher, using his remarkable pace to round the defence in the left-hand corner and dot down following a tremendous Barney Maddison breakaway.

Rounding off the game in style, Lloyd Williams finished off a well-worked team move that had two impressive offloads down the left flank to leave the final score 57-14.