13-try Ealing take their anger out on lowly Exiles

EALING Trailfinders pulled no punches in their trip to the Athletic Ground as they ran in 13 tries for a one-sided victory.

Hat-tricks for Rayn Smid and Simon Linsell, along with braces from Luke Daniels and Jordan Burns contributed to the spectacular points tally.

After their Premiership promotion hopes were set back, Ealing director of rugby Ben Ward was happy with the dominant win after a difficult week.

He said: “I was disappointed with the result against Doncaster last week, and obviously the announcement on Tuesday from the RFU.

“There’s some stuff going on behind the scenes that we are looking at, but as a group of players, it was just about coming down here, playing for each other and getting the result. We are pleased with the zero defensively.”

Daniels blocked a clearance kick, and regathered the ball to jog in for Ealing’s opener after two minutes. The strong start continued, as Smid trucked through three Exiles defenders to extend the lead.

Daniels showcased his footwork to secure his brace, before Pat Howard extended the lead. The centre collected a looping miss pass and cruised down the flank to score. Smid scored his second, by grounding a 15 man rolling maul. Swirling winds caused Craig Willis to miss three conversions, with the score 29-0 at the break.

The onslaught continued seconds after the re-start. David Johnston powered in under the posts, with Willis slotting the extras. Linsell crossed next to begin his trio of tries, before Jordan Burns dived over for his first.

Smid continued to break tackles which took him over for his third. Burns’ brace was the stand out try, sprinting down the wing from his own 22 before wrongfooting a backtracking defender. Linsell’s following two tries came either side of replacement prop Will Davis’ score, as Ealing achieved a point a minute.

Scottish attack coach Ricky Khan said: “We knew it was going to be tough. Ealing coming off that Doncaster loss were always going to want to right those wrongs.

“Any mistakes we made, they punished us and that’s the difference between a side fighting at the top, and a side fighting at the bottom.”