London Scottish vs Ealing Trailfinders

Match Report

Credit has to go to the Exiles for how well they performed today, but despite pressure we were able to come away with the full five points to keep us top of the table.

The game got off to an almost perfect start, with us scoring after just two minutes. The Exiles went being penalised for being offside at a kick which allowed Craig Willis to go to the corner. From 10m out, Shaun Malton looked like he was going over for the first score but the maul was pulled down illegally and so ref Luke Rogan ran under the sticks to award a penalty try.

The hosts answered back shortly after through Jordan Els after winning repeated penalties and it was level after 9 minutes.

This didn’t phase us however, as we quickly responded through Steven Shingler who scored in the corner after a well worked passage of play that saw us tie in players from a rolling maul before spinning wide once we had created the overlap.

Ten minutes later we were in again, after repeated penalties, Carlo Tizzano crashed over on the back of a rolling maul and Craig Willis did superbly well to add the extras from the touchline.

The hosts then added their second score of the day after capitalising from a quick tap penalty allowing Cam King to dot down.

With half-time beckoning we secured the bonus point when Barney Maddison was on the back of the rolling maul this time to put us into a 12 point lead at the break. Half-time score: London Scottish 14-26 Ealing Trailfinders

In the same way that we scored almost immediately in the first-half, Scottish did so in the second as Harlequins dual-registered winger Cassius Cleaves went over in the corner.

It took us our time to respond from the Exiles’ fast start, but we slowly built back into the half. With the bench coming on and making an impact, just before the hour mark, sustained pressure and repeated penalties finally paid as Rayn Smid crashed over.

Just minutes later we were in again as Luke Daniels was on the end of potentially our score of the season. From inside our own 22, Jordan Burns spotted a gap at the ruck and burst through it. He got up to the halfway line before being tackled and recycling well. Shingler then put out a beautiful two-man miss pass to release Luke Daniels to run in unopposed.

After seeing this superb free flowing play, the forwards decided to return to their bread and butter, the rolling maul. In the space of five minutes, Malton picked up a brace, both on the back of the maul as we pulled away from the hosts.

With five minutes to go, a strong box-kick and chase saw us regain possession. Will Davis spotted a gap which he almost was able to get his 120kg frame through! Although he was just pulled down he was able to offload to Burns who ran in under the sticks.

With the full-time whistle approaching, Scottish went in search of their bonus point score, but our defence stood firm.

Full-time score: London Scottish 21-57 Ealing Trailfinders

T: Penalty Try 2′, Shingler 12′, Tizzano 18′, Maddison 38′, Smid 58′, Daniels 61′, Maulton 67′, 71′, Burns 76′

C: Willis 19′, 38′, 59′, 68′, 77