Ealing deny Exiles a double

Ealing Trailfinders 23 London Irish 17

LONDON Irish were unable to complete a league and cup winning double as Ealing Trailfinders came out as the victors in the Championship cup final.

Ealing made a fast start to the game and scored the first try of the match after 13 minutes as they took advantage of some strong forward play before Craig Willis set Seb Stegmann up for an easy finish.

The hosts pushed for a second try and they were rewarded as Will Harries burst onto a beautifully weighted kick by Willis and despite missing the conversion they boasted a 10-0 lead.

The Exiles finally got on to the scoresheet as Ben Loader capitalised on the loose ball in midfield and accelerated away from the Ealing defence to touch down between the posts before Myler converted for Irish.

Both sides then scored a penalty each as the Trailfinders took a 13-10 lead into half time.

The hosts continued to assert their dominance in the second half and extended their advantage as they stayed patient to work an opening before David Johnston got over the line.

Willis scored his first conversion of the match before his successful penalty opened up a 13 point gap between the sides.

Irish fought their way back into the match as Terrence Hepetema powerfully drove over the line and Myler converted to make the score 23-17 with just under 10 minutes remaining.

But the hosts withstood the vast pressure form Irish as they stole the ball from an Exiles lineout just metres from their own try line as they held on for victory.

Ealing Trailfinders: Tries: Stegmann (13), Harries (23), Johnston (46); Conversions: Willis; Penalties: Willis (34, 57); London Irish: Tries: Loader (29), Hepetema (68); Conversions Myler (2); Penalties: Myler (38)

London Irish: 15 Luke McLean, 14 Ben Loader, 13 Fergus Mulchrone, 12 Terrence Hepetema (rep: Macken, 48-58, 75), 11 Matt Wiliams, 10 Stephen Myler, 9 Scott Steele (rep: Brendan McKibbin, 60), 1 Gordon Reid (rep: Patric

Cilliers, 60), 2 Saia Fainga’a (rep: Dave Porecki, 57), 3 Ollie Hoskins, 4 Franco van der Merwe (rep: Barney Maddison, 65), 5 Josh McNally ©, 6 Jake Schatz, 58, 7 TJ Ioane, 8 Ofisa Trevirnaus (rep: Matt Rogerson, 55)

Replacements: 16 David Porecki, 17 Patric CIlliers, 18 Barney Maddison, 19 Matt Rogerson, Brendan McKibbin, 21 Jacob Atkins, 22 Brendan Macken

Ealing: 15 Will Harries (rep: Harry Sloan, 70), 14 Seb Stegmann, 13 David Johnston, 12 Pat Howard, 11 James Cordy Redden, 10 Craig Willis, 9 Jordan Burns, 1 Jordan Els, 2 Alun Walker (rep: Matt Cornish, 70), 3 Elliot Millar Mills, 4 Sam Dickinson (rep: Ben Landry, 74), 5 Harry Casson, 6 Kieran Murphy, 7 Jordy Reid, 8 Rayn Smid (c)

Replacements: 16 Matt Cornish, 17 Jack O’Connell, 18 Ben Betts, 19 Ben Landry, 20 Harry Sloan, 21 Ryan Foley, 22 Laurence May

Referee: Greg McDonald

Attendance: 3,000