Bonus point ensures Ealing maintain pressure
STILL comfortably second-placed in the Championship, this decisive and crucial victory for Ealing helps them maintain pressure on top-of-the- table London Irish.
Despite their team bus breaking down en route to the Mennaye Field, the Trailfinders outscored the Pirates four tries to one, with the pace of scrumhalf Jordan Burns bagging him a brace.
He went one better when playing for Bedford in a 2934 defeat against the Pirates last April, when he registered a hat-trick for the losing side
Leading the Pirates out for this match were No.8 Tom Duncan and prop Marlen Walker, the game marking their 100 games milestones for the club. However, Pirates were missing the services of influential prop Christian Judge, now back at Saracens for the rest of the season.
When the match got underway it was Ealing who were quick to apply pressure at the Newlyn gate corner.
The Pirates initially held the threat and cleared the danger, but when awarded a scrum penalty the choice for the Trailfinders was obvious. While the attempt from a catch-and-drive didn’t deliver, when the ball was worked left James Cordy-Redden crossed for the opening try. Peter Lydon added the extras.
Pirates looked to respond, using the width of the field to bring their potent back three of Kyle Moyle, Alex O’Meara and AJ Cant into play, before each side lost a player injured – milestone-man Walker replaced by Jack Andrew and, for the visitors, David Johnston taking over from centre Pat Howard.
Continuing to probe, the
Pirates acquired their first points approaching the half-hour, wing Cant gathering Alex Day’s subtle nudge ahead to dive in at the scoreboard corner.
Fly-half Harvey Skinner, making his first Championship start, missed the extras, but was on target soon after with a penalty to take a one-point lead.
Good work at the breakdown from Rory Parata provided further encouragement for the Pirates as they set up another attack, but on half-time it was a converted try from Ealing skipper Rayn Smid that gave his side a 14-8 lead.
The second half was dominated by the Trailfinders, with man-ofthe-match Burns scoring his two tries – the second securing a bonus point – and Lydon once again slotting the conversions.
The teams meet again next weekend at the Trailfinders Sports Ground in the semi-final of the Championship Cup.