Ealing beat Scottish to keep heat on tabloe-topping Bristol
STOIC Scottish defence kept them in touch of second-placed Ealing until skipper Mark Bright grabbed their second catch and drive try with 15 minutes remaining in a mudridden stop-start affair.
Despite Trailfinders moving within five points of league leaders Bristol, they struggled to translate their advantage in possession into territory and missed out on a try-bonus point. They know they will have to be more clinical if they hope to derail the west country side when they clash in a fortnight.
Ealing director of rugby Ben Ward said: “We were very naïve with the way we were playing – in the end it took a 19-year-old kid (Dan Grant-Adamson) to come on and start doing what we were asking from the sidelines.
“It’s all about territory on a day like this and Dan put up two great kicks and made it easy. You need to play in the right areas, force a turnover, build the pressure and do the simple things. It wasn’t a day to go through the phases – box kicks and then set-piece ascendancy led to both tries.
“Now we want to go to the next stage of clinical as there were a couple of opportunities we blew and we know Bristol will be a huge challenge. On paper, we shouldn’t be anywhere near them but our guys will embrace the challenge.”
Scottish fly-half Jake Sharp got an early three points – which would be their only score of the game – but neither side were able to gain a foothold, with Ealing’s infringements not allowing them to take full advanag-tage.
After Sharp cleared Scottish lines three times, a penalty allowed Trailfinders wing Luke Daniels to equal the score.
The unusually amberclad away-side got an old school catch and drive try dotted down by talisman Alun Walker just before the half-hour mark, but the game continued in a stopstart fashion until half-time.
Scottish put together 20 phases just after the break in their first sustained attack of the game but neither winger Matt Williams nor centre Ross Neal on the other flank could break through Ealing’s dogmatic defence and the away-side grabbed a crucial turnover.
The Exiles lost Sharp to a hamstring injury 11 minutes into the second-half before replacement Fraser Lyle missed a crucial penalty to close the gap.
Trailfinders got more into full flow as the secondhalf went on and after several changes on the hour mark were bedded deep in Scottish territory with some classy box-kicking by Grant-Adamson.
Despite winger Matt Williams making another try-saving tackle on Rayn Smid, a minute later veteran No.8 Bright finished a powerful drive.
Ealing’s relentless scrummaging on Scottish’s try-line came good with the referee awarding a penalty try with a minute left, ending the Exiles’ run of four games undefeated.
Scottish head coach Dave Morris, said: “It was a tight game at the start and a simple mistake gave them field possession for their second try when we were light in the scrum.
“We’ve been on a good run and thought we could win so to not get a bonuspoint is disappointing. We conceded penalties late on not because of poor discipline but more down to Ealing’s pressure.”