Blues find rhythm but Trailfinders steam on
EALING Trailfinders continued their rich vein of form with a resounding eight try victory at Bedford which kept Ben Ward’s side firmly at the top of the Championship table.
Bedford, on the other hand, have now suffered back-to-back home defeats and fall in the table to fifth – but have become the second side to hit the 200point barrier in this season’s Championship.
After seeing Ealing score a combined 175 points in the previous two games, Bedford were desperate to keep the visitors at bay early on to get a foothold in the game, but Trailfinders again started like a train and were 14-0 up after just six minutes.
There were too many gaps in the 10-12-13 channel early on which allowed centre Matt Gordon and full-back David Johnston to score. Both were converted by Steven Shingler.
Bedford struggled to get out of their own half in the opening 40 minutes as Ealing ran rampant, but Mike Rayer’s side did look dangerous when in and around the opposition try line only to make critical errors at the wrong time and allow the scoreboard to run away from them.
The influential flanker Simon Uzokwe was soon over for this first try of the afternoon just before the half-hour and he grabbed his second a mere five minutes later as the forwards pack caused havoc in the final third.
Gordon’s second and a superb driving maul try by Shaun Malton ensured Ealing went in at the break with a mammoth 38-0 lead.
Bedford were playing down the slope in the second half which offered them encouragement and the 2,000+ home supporters finally had something to cheer when Dean Adamson crossed early after the restart.
Adamson and then Ethan Grayson both had tries ruled out as Bedford started to click into gear, but it wasn’t long before Ealing wrestled back the ascendency to bring up 50 points on the scoreboard.
Having been found in
space out wide, bulldozing No.8 Rayn Smid crashed over after easily gliding past two Bedford last ditch challenges, before Shingler’s conversion to Charlie Walker’s run-in completed their scoring.
Bedford did have the final say to ensure they at least won the second half in terms of the scoreboard, scrum-half Jake Garside scoring under the posts on his Championship debut.
After next week’s reserve week where neither side have a match scheduled, Bedford face the daunting task of heading to Cornish Pirates while Ealing host Jersey.
Blues assistant coach, Jake Sharp, said: “We feel it was a very positive second-half performance. But against as good a side as Ealing, we can’t afford to hand them the sort of start they got.
“That first-half was pretty humbling for our lads because Ealing came out of the blocks very fast, and we didn’t deal with it. The positive is that we sorted out the scrum in the second half with the same players so that’s excellent, because it shows we can problem solve on the field.”