Korczyk shows his class for Trailfinders

DYNAMIC flanker Adam Korczyk shone as Trailfinders survived rotten conditions and a furious second half fightback from Coventry to remain in Newcastle’s slipstream.

Their eighth successive win in all competitions was no work of beauty and Cov had a right to feel hard done by after the officials ignored a string of blatant Ealing offsides.

Over the piece, however, the visitors were worthy winners and in Korczyk, who arrived in December from Queensland Reds, they had a player who is surely destined for bigger things and who complemented a back row that frustrated Cov throughout.

With wing forward colleague Kieran Murphy in equally rampaging mode, that laid the foundation for first half tries from Pat Howard and Elliott MillarMills as Trailfinders opened up a 14-3 half-time lead – a margin Cov narrowed but could not overcome.

“I don’t mind a wet game,” said Korczyk, 25, born in Auckland of Polish parents, raised in Australia and part of the Wallabies set-up in 2018.

“We were playing well despite the ball being very greasy – then in the second half we had a ten-minute spell where we let up and they got in behind us.

“We had a couple of yellow cards, but we worked hard to keep them out and it’s a tough win that will stand us in good stead for the rest of the season.”

Both sides went at it hammer and tongs from the off and Ealing struck first on eight minutes after Reon Joseph raced 40-metres. Harry Casson carried the move forward and, under penalty advantage, Craig Willis chipped beautifully for Howard to pounce.

Rory Jennings replied with a penalty for Cov but the next 20 minutes were all Trailfinders’. Cov did well to repel successive lineout drives before Ealing scored again after Tom Kessell had been charged down. Trailfinders won a scrum from which Rayn Smid rampaged and, after Sam Dickinson had gone close, Millar-Mills claimed their second try.

A cricket score loomed at that stage, particularly as wind-assisted Trailfinders camped deep inside Cov’s 22 for 15 minutes after halftime. But Cov survived and Ealing’s failure to nail down the coffin lid haunted them when Cov full-back Louis Brown, hugely impressive on debut, made a searing run before a Jennings nudge was finished by Andy Forsyth.

Cov went for broke, only to be frustrated by the officials, before Trailfinders found a second wind to seal the win through Steve Shingler’s late penalty.

“When you have two topof-the-table sides, you need top-of-the-table ‘teams of three’,” growled Cov boss Rowland Winter. “That’s an area where the RFU have let us down badly today – but our defence was good and I was pleased with our effort.”