Reds hold on as Willis fires wide at the death

JERSEY Reds claimed a prized win over Ealing Trailfinders as a thrilling contest went right to the last kick.

The visitors went over for their fourth try in the dying moments, leaving Craig Willis the chance to land a tricky conversion from the five-metre line on his 28th birthday. But the kick was just wide and Ealing had to be content with a brace of bonus points.

Director of rugby Harvey Biljon was delighted after seeing his side beat Ealing for just the third time in 21 league and cup encounters at level two.

“It’s a bit of a monkey off our back,” he said. “We put ourselves under pressure in the second half by not sticking to task, but the guys showed real character and composure to come back at the end and regain the lead with a great team try.”

After a scoreless first quarter, Jersey’s pack created and finished two tries in five minutes, with James Hadfield and James Dun each crossing after multiple phases.

The Reds backs then came to the party as Brendan Owen broke through near halfway and fed Ben Woollett, who worked a one-two with Russell Bennett and raced to the line.

Trailfinders did get a foothold on half-time as Jersey’s Sean O’Connor was sin-binned for foul play at a ruck and the resultant penalty set up an attacking lineout with hooker Alun Walker finishing the maul.

Before the Reds returned to full strength, the Londoners had struck again soon after the break as Craig Hampson jinked through after a powerful run by Simon Uzokwe.

Willis struck a penalty to reduce the deficit to four and then front-row replacements Ross Kane and Kevin O’Byrne combined to send winger Nathan Earle to the line and give their side the lead.

Pressure from the Reds brought a yellow card for James Gibbons after multiple penalties were awarded, but the fourth Jersey try didn’t come until Charlie Powell linked with Woollett for a fine run, with replacement prop Monty Weatherby following up and feeding Dan Barnes for the try.

With time up, Ealing pressed and put Jordan Burns into a gap down the right; the replacement showed good pace in crossing the line but was prevented, crucially, from getting closer to the posts.

Ealing’s director of rugby Ben Ward said: “We didn’t match them physically in the first 40 minutes but we were outstanding in the second half – we’ve come away with two points, so we’ll take that.”