Ealing hold on but Ward unhappy with his defence

THREE early tries gave Ealing an unassailable lead and moved them top of the Championship table.

Early scores from No.8 Rayn Smid, wingers James Cordy-Redden and Seb Stegmann earned Trailfinders a 21-point cushion before hooker Alun Walker, fly-half Craig Willis and Stegmann rounded off the win despite a strong Richmond resurgence.

Ealing director of rugby Ben Ward said: “I’m pleased we put some really good rugby together but we are conceding points too easily. We’ve not put a full performance together.

“The boys worked hard but we were slow to react to breaks and at the breakdown so we need to be cleverer in what we do.”

Ealing’s high tempo and relentless power straight from the off saw Richmond openside Jesse Liston taken off with a head injury before skipper Smid found a gap in the line from a scrum to score unopposed.

Trailfinders’ running skills were on full display but handling errors kept them from scoring until Cordy-Redden finished a break by centre Guy Armitage. Then ten phases deep into Richmond’s 22 saw Stegmann go over left of the posts.

A break by Richmond wing Jonny Woodward led to full-back Rob Kirby sliding over before prop Will Goodrick-Clarke finished a catch-and-drive to get Richmond back in the match at 21-14.

With Ealing prop Elliott Millar-Mills acting as a fourth back rower, his link play was key as Stegmann took two Richmond defenders out to get his second.

Wing Jordan SimpsonHefft dotted down to pull one back for Richmond but Ealing stepped up after half-time and within a minute of Richmond prop Goodrick-Clarke being sin-binned for killing the ball, Willis ducked round blindside Jacob Parker to score.

Richmond then staged a remarkable fightback. Replacement Timothy Walford finished off from a short lineout to get the try bonus-point before No.8 Chris Davies was at the back of a catch-anddrive. Kirby’s penalty at the end earned a second bonus point.

Coach Steve Hill said: “We should be happy with two league points at Ealing, but we’re not. To concede 21 early points was a killer. We won the second half and you wouldn’t have known which was the professional and which was the amateur side then.”