Trailfinders fire 11 past Archers to hit top spot

TRY doubles from Alun Walker and Simon Uzokwe helped Ealing Trailfinders to a dominant victory over Nottingham.

A sensational firsthalf blitz saw Ealing secure the bonus point within 25 minutes and the 11-try victory now sees them return to the top of the Pool 1 after last week’s defeat against Jersey.

Ealing director of rugby Ben Ward said: “I’m really pleased. After two defeats, this sees us get back on track and I’m really satisfied both with the result and with our performance.”

The hosts came out of the blocks fast with Cian Kelleher getting on the end of a beautifully weighted Dan Lancaster kick after three minutes. Then Walker scored two tries in ten minutes, both from rolling mauls as the forwards looked to dominate the Archers.

On the 20 minute mark, the visitors managed to get on the scoresheet through Ryan Olowofela after Michael Stronge took a quick tap penalty and the winger ran onto his grubber in behind.

But Trailfinders answered straight back, as Uzokwe managed to secure the bonus point. Soon after, they scored their fifth try, as Steven Shingler regathered a chip in behind and as he was being tackled he threw a no look, reverse offload to put Reuben Bird-Tulloch under the sticks.

Bird-Tulloch then turned provider as he burst through the middle before offloading to Jordan Burns to score under the posts. Then with five minutes to go before the break,

another well weighted Lancaster kick found Jonah Holmes to dot down in the corner. Will Montgomery crashed over for try number eight on the stroke of half-time to make it 52-7.

The second half saw a much improved Nottingham performance, but still they were unable to stop Kyle Whyte from crashing over five minutes into the half.

The next half-an-hour saw the game tighten up as defences got on top. It was on the 71st minute mark that this deadlock was broken, as Max Bodilly spotted space in behind as he regathered his own kick to score.

Nottingham got their second score through Michael Green, as the centre bundled over after a strong rolling maul had come up just short, and then with time almost up, Uzokwe muscled over for his second.