Ealing Trailfinders suffered their third loss in the British and Irish Cup when 2013 winners Leinster A ran in seven tries in an impressive performance at Donnybrook.

Chris York scored a late try for Ben Ward’s side to ensure they left Ireland with something to show for their efforts before the Dubliners travel to Vallis Way for the reciprocal fixture on 19 December.

Leinster A began in the ascendancy on the 3G synthetic surface on a dry night at Donnybrook, but powerful joint tackles from Phil Chesters and Carwyn Jones and York and Sam Stanley showed that the visitors were prepared to match the home side’s intensity.

Six minutes in though Leinster A fly-half Cathal Marsh knocked over the opening points with a penalty, but after Ealing Trailfinders began to build some pressure of their own, Alex Davies drew them level from the kicking tee after the returning Joe Munro had come close to scoring the opening try of the match.

The teams continued to take it in turns to take the ascendancy in attack and Marsh and Davies added another penalty apiece, but with the second half drawing in Leinster A prop Peter Dooley drove over from close range for the first try of the match.

Ealing Trailfinders tried to probe Leinster A’s defence to find a breakthrough and Phil Chesters nearly broke away after Munro had broken the Irish side’s defence.

They continued where they left off at the end of the first half and matched Leinster A’s intensity without actually managing to find the breakthrough.

Leinster A right-wing Darragh Fanning finally broke the second-half deadlock when he rounded off a counter-attacking move and centre Colm O’Shea then added two more to put the Irish side fully in control.

By then Leinster A had found their rhythm and full-back Cian Kelleher added their sixth with just under 10 minutes remaining.

Ealing Trailfinders refused to buckle though and when Steve Neville swooped on a losse ball and led an attack the ball was eventually worked wide to Callum Wilson who passed on to York, who barged his way over.

As the clock ran down Leinster A prop Royce Burke-Flynn ran in the Irish team’s seventh try to complete a well-deserved victory.

Scorers
Leinster A
Tries (Dooley 37, Beirne 44, Fanning 53, O’Shea 56, 59, Kelleher 66, Burke-Flynn 80), Conversions (Marsh 38, 57), Penalties (Marsh 7, 20)
Ealing Trailfinders
Tries (York 73), Conversions (Love 74), Penalties (Davies 12, 28)

Leinster A
Cian Kelleher, Darragh Fanning, Colm O’Shea, Steve Crosbie, Mick McGrath, Cathal Marsh, Charlie Rock; Peter Dooley, Bryan Byrne, Michael Bent, Gavin Thornbury, Tadhg Beirne, Josh Murphy, Dan Leavy, Peadar Timmins (captain)
Reserves
Sean McNulty, Royce Burke-Flynn, David O’Connor, Tony Ryan, Matthew D’Arcy, Harrison Brewer, Ian Fitzpatrick

Ealing Trailfinders
James Love, Callum Wilson, Sam Stanley, Joe Munro, Phil Chesters, Tristan Roberts, Alex Davies; Will Davis, Rhys Lawrence (captain), Alex Penny, Carwyn Jones, Llewelyn Jones, Harrison Orr, Arthur Ellis, Chris York
Reserves
Steve Neville, Karl Gibson, Sam Rodman, Alex Bradley, Eoghan Grace, Tom Bliss, Chris Kinloch

Referee – Craig Evans

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

Ealing Trailfinders fell to a defeat in their opening British and Irish Cup match of the season in a match that fully lived up to the old cliché of a match of two halves.

Ben Ward’s side went in at half-time 31-5 ahead, but after the teams turned around after the break the hosts used the fierce wind to their advantage to fight back and secure their second win over Ealing Trailfinders this season.

England’s World Cup winning captain Martin Johnson was the star guest as Moseley opened their brand new and highly-impressive main stand, but it was Ealing Trailfinders’ forwards who responded best to his presence on the side-lines in the first half.

Three times in the first half Ealing Trailfinders driving maul resulted in tries, twice for Arthur Ellis and once for Rhys Lawrence, who was making his first start since joining the club from Bristol over the summer.

Centre Danny Barnes scored his first try for the club when he finished off a sweeping counter-attack, Phil Chesters raced onto a chip over the defence and Ben Ward knocked over three conversions.

Moseley wing Tom Collins ran in the hosts only points of the first half, but after half-time Kevin Maggs’ side fully used the sleeting rain and the wind at their backs to fight back.

Collins ran in his second, number eight Chris Brightwell kept up the momentum going before Harry Casson’s score and a penalty try drew them level. With two minutes to go Charlie Foley knocked over two penalties to ensure Moseley started their cup campaign with a win, though Ealing Trailfinders at least left with both the four-try and losing bonus point.

Scorers
Moseley
Tries (Collins 32, 46, Brightwell 42, penalty 65, Casson 69), Conversions (Foley 46, 65, 69), Penalties (Foley 78, 80)
Ealing Trailfinders
Tries (Ellis 16, 19, Barnes 24, Chester 26, Lawrence 38), Conversions (Ward 19, 24, 38)

Moseley
Mike Penn, Kyle Evans, Joe Williams, Tim Molenaar, Tom Collins, Charlie Foley, David Brazier; Adam Caves, Simon Gardiner, Aaron Flagg, Harry Casson, Ed Siggery, Will Keenan, Chris Brightwell
Reserves
Scott Tolmie, Tom Warren, Harry Hone, Joe Bercis, Buster Lawrence, Sam Brown, Greg King

Ealing Trailfinders
Will Harries, James Stephenson, Danny Barnes, Tom Wheatcroft, Phil Chesters, Ben Ward, Alex Walker; George Porter, Rhys Lawrence, Sam Rodman, Carwyn Jones, Adam Preocanin, Harrison Orr, Arthur Ellis, Chris York (captain)
Reserves
Jamie Kilbane, Karl Gibson, Alex Penny, Nathan Hannay, Eoghan Grace, Tom Bliss, James Love

Referee – Elia Rizo
Attendance – 818