Huge congratulations to the U11’s who won their recent tour to Bognor Regis after playing some tough games.
Well done to everyone involved.
Ealing Trailfinders U12’s ventured to Bognor Regis on their last tour as Minis.
Having two teams who had trained and played together over a number of weeks hopes were high for some great rugby and both teams delivered!
A hard fought Saturday saw Ealing Sabres through to the latter stages of the cup competition with two wins and a draw against this season’s nemesis Amersham and Chiltern.
Ealing Scimitars played some exceptional rugby to win two and lose only to Harpenden Eagles. This proved bittersweet as they found themselves against some top class sides on the Sunday and lost all three matches but were physical and committed throughout and played some of their best rugby of the season.
There was elation and disappointment for the Sabres as well, who went through 119 minutes of rugby without conceding a try thereby earning the best defensive record in the tournament only to crack with the very last play of the final game and to come a very close second in the cup.
The squad came together afterward to celebrate with a court session (what goes on tour stays on tour) and to be awarded their club ties as they move up to youth after a memorable final minis season.
Superb Ealing 1871 Women role models guide the U12 Girls in their first Rugby 7’s Festival
The U12 Girls Youth squad had their first foray into 7’s Rugby on Saturday at the London Irish Emeralds International Girls Rugby Festival. With an early start on a hot, sunny and windy day the Ealing side needed and stood out off the pitch under the shade of the bright orange ET gazebo. The U12 girls were very fortunate to have the services of three Ealing 1871 Women’s squad players as guest coaches. A huge round of applause goes out to currently injured Ealing 1871 Women’s players Eden Commins, Jess Axebrink and Kayleigh Pink. These three ladies were superb role models for our aspiring U12 Girls and guided them thru the nuances of 7’s rugby.
With 18 teams competing in the U12 age group alone Saturday was for the U12’s and U14’s at a very busy and superbly organised festival at the Hazelwood complex. The U16’s and U18’s groups of the festival played on Sunday.
Ealing U12 girl’s came up against two very organised and strong sides in Old Albanians and Battersea Ironsiders in the morning matches. Although the Ealing girls were slower to start and a tad hesitant at the breakdown they managed to consistently deploy some free flowing attacking play. In both morning games Ealing were the early try-scorers, put in some committed cover tackles and the speed and slick passing of our outside backs caused the opposition real problems. However, the pace of 7’s and not committing players to defensive lines or being quick to the breakdown meant Ealing were losing almost every ruck – resulting in two first up losses of 7-2.
The long lunch break ensured time for reflection and refocusing ……. Roll out the hype and motivation of Eden, Jess and Kayleigh from their Ealing 1871 Women’s experience. After an impromptu coaching session on defensive line speed and committing to rucks game three against a handy Wasps side was almost flawless from start to finish with a stylish Ealing 8-5 win. Unfortunately, this form just couldn’t be followed up in the final game against Richmond where Ealing went down bravely 6-4.
Given that all 11 of the Ealing girls had never played 7’s before and we had just three hurried 7’s training sessions it was a great learning curve and amazing overall performance. Player of the Day went jointly to Catherine Gallagher and Iga Pawlica – both girls are in their first ever season of rugby. Special mentions were made by the Ealing 1871 ladies around consistency and confidence building play as the festival wore on for Eydie Field, Cameron Isaac-Simon and Luella Wells.
Trailfinders Sports Club are hiring bar/events staff to work upcoming match days and events!
Get in touch with Trailfinders Sports Club directly by emailing enquiries@tfsc.co.uk with your CV.
Burnham-on-Crouch 26 – 58 Ealing Trailfinders 1871 1sts in the Papa John’s Cup
Ealing Trailfinders 1871 travelled by coach to the attractively located ground of Burnham-on-Crouch, a couple of hundred metres from the sea wall and the Crouch estuary, to play the Counties 2 Essex North champions in the round of 32 of the Papa Johns Community Cup Counties 2 Championship. On a warm and sunny but breezy April day, Ealing’s players and supporters received a warm welcome at what is clearly a thriving and well-run club, coached by former England Women’s international Sally Russo. A committed performance by a squad featuring no fewer than six first-team debutants brought victory in a high-scoring match of 13 tries, nine to Ealing and four to their game opponents.
The green-and-whites started strongly, with the backs up quickly in defence to deny Burnham quality possession, and opened their account after just 3 minutes through flanker Alex Kritikos, with a powerful straight run. The conversion attempt by Harry Vidler, standing in as captain in the absence of the injured Lewis Steadman, missed in the swirling breeze. Five minutes later 1871 stamped their authority on the game with a second try, scored by Josh Steadman, on this occasion playing at scrum half, with a trademark burst of speed to cross the line near the corner flag and finish under the posts, Vidler converting. Undeterred, Burnham reduced the arrears to 12-5 with a well-executed try on the right. 1871 continued to dominate possession, and with a quarter of the game played right wing Louis Aitcheson-Walker came into the line on the left and finished well in the corner, from where Vidler nailed a difficult conversion. The gap between the two sides was widened 7 minutes later with a fine run down the right-hand touch line by flanker Carlos Duarte, and Aitcheson-Walker squeezed over in virtually the same spot to conclude the first-half action with another well-struck conversion by Vidler to leave the interval score at 31-5.
Burnham began the second period brightly with a try under the posts and conversion, but 1871 bounced back with neat passing along the three-quarter line and back inside for full back Jack Hobbs to dive over. Kritikos added his second of the day with another barnstorming run, with Vidler adding the extras, and hooker Leo Codrington-Lambert outpaced the defence to finish under the posts, before Burnham notched their third try of the afternoon. With just under a quarter of the game remaining, Vidler opted for the posts from one of the relatively small number of penalties awarded in a fluent, disciplined and well-refereed contest. Burnham added a fourth through their forwards, but it was Ealing who scored the final try of an entertaining contest, debutant Stan Clauson showing an impressive turn of speed and hand-off down the right-hand touch line and finishing under the sticks.
Ealing’s own man of the match award was shared by Aitcheson-Walker and fellow winger Kayci Bernard, while Burnham nominated Josh Steadman. Ealing debutants Mihai and Petru Boian, who provided a solid centre pairing, Stan Clauson, Tijai Bright with several strong runs, club stalwart Dan Ford and 18-year-old wing Dan Nethercote all made meaningful contributions to an impressive squad performance.
Having dispatched the Counties 2 North Essex champions, 1871 have a home fixture in the last 16 against Basildon, Burnham’s counterparts in Essex South, on Saturday 20 April.
A hugely successful minis rugby tour saw 200 or more tourists descend on Butlins, Bognor for a weekend of fun, frolics and superb minis rugby at the Tigers Challenge.
Teams from the U7s to the U12s competed in an exceptional festival organised by Leicester Tigers spread over 2 days. The standard of rugby was excellent and all teams were awarded points based on tries scored AND the behaviour of players, coaches and parents!!!! Ealing did themselves proud, many of our teams topped the tables.
All teams were presented with a trophy by Mad Dog, Lewis Moody, and all players received a medal at a laser fuelled presentation ceremony on Sunday.
Huge congratulations to our U10 player, Hugo Harvey, who received one of the individual special recognition awards for an amazing offload resulting in a try!!!
All players received tour playing tops which stood out proudly and loudly!! Many thanks to Mike and Fiona Gooley who generously sponsored them.
U12s presented club ties to their players at a ceremony on Saturday evening with other other age groups gathering on a windy beach for a tour photo.
As is so often the case we were extremely lucky with the weather and the sun smiled for us.
Many thanks to Jane and Kevin from U11s for organising a fantastic tour…. Ho de ho until next year!!!
Our Club Lottery winners this month were Ricky, winning £100, and Maureen Arthur who won £50.
The Club Lottery is your opportunity to invest in YOUR Club whilst having the chance to win monthly cash prizes. The aim of the Club Lottery is to raise money to support needed equipment and projects that develop the club and preserve its heritage. Members can opt-in to the Club Lottery at the cost of £5 per month and purchase additional entries in £5 increments (max 4 per person). Monthly Draws take place throughout the year for two cash prizes per month of £100 and £50. Non-members can also join the Club Lottery too.
Register for the Club Lottery here: Ealing Trailfinders Lottery
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- Ealing Trailfinders Assistant coach Kieran Campbell during the Championship Cup match between Nottingham Rugby and Ealing Trailfinders at The Bay, Nottingham, United Kingdom on 13 November 2022. Photo by Tom Pearson / PRiME Media Images
After beginning the Ealing Trailfinders Elite Pathway (ETEP) on the 18th of December, the programme has gone from strength to strength and has given many players from Ealing Trailfinders amateurs the opportunity to develop their skills.
ETEP is Ealing Trailfinders’ initial pathway programme. It seeks to expose boys from the local area to professional coaching and bring them into the Trailfinders Academy.
Training at Trailfinders sports club every second Monday, six boys from Ealing u16s have been involved in the programme that has started as a trial with this age group.
The sessions test the players’ knowledge of the game to further their understanding and basic skills. The hope is that the best players will work their way up the Trailfinders Rugby Academy into the first team.
Alongside the training sessions, Ealing Trailfinders staff give players in-depth video performance analyses to develop their r
ugby knowledge.
The six members of the Ealing age groups involved in the ETEP are Ollie Isherwood, Rio Waddington, Freddie Ruzicka, William Squire, Josh Nnatu and Isaac Slade.
When asked how the pathway helped improve his game, Isherwood said: “I think having the professional coaches with us is very valuable, and it gives us an insight into professional rugby that we wouldn’t get otherwise. Also the video analysis after each session is really helpful and something which I have never had before, and it has already helped improve my understanding of the game.”
Ruzicka said, “I enjoy the sessions and the variety of game situations. The individual feedback from the coaches is really helpful.”
Squire said: “ETEP has helped me build confidence in my rugby, playing with a group of highly skilled players.”
Ealing Trailfinders Defence Coach and ETEP Coach Kieran Campbell said: “ETEP is an exciting new development at Ealing Trailfinders. It provides players within our youth section and from surrounding schools and clubs with the opportunity to progress into our Academy an
d aspire to reach the professional 1st XV squad.
“Players are selected to ETEP through a formal identification process implemented by our excellent recruitment staff team. They attend matches to watch selected players, identify potential talent to join ETEP, and study players using footage kindly shared by coaches and rugby masters.
“The selected players are then given the opportunity to train and develop in our ETEP programme lead by Matt Ingram our Pathway Coordinator, and supported by Director of Rugby Ben Ward, and senior coaches David Johnston and I. This provides players with the unique opportunity to work with our senior coaching team who are fully committed to ensuring each player has an experie
nce which improves them as a player and enables them to realise their potential.”
Waddington said: “ETEP is really well organised, and the coaches give one-on-one advice, which helps improve specific skills.”
Ealing Trailfinders Director of Player Personnel Alex Shaw said: “We’ve enjoyed having the lads from Ealing Trailfinders Youth in since the inception of ETEP midway through the season. They’ve shown excellent core skills and responded well to the coaches and the messages we have been trying to convey. Even in such a short time, we’ve seen real growth in all the lads.
“We followed their progress recently at the Rosslyn Park 7s, and they all gave a good account of themselves, representing the likes of Merchant Taylor’s, Hampton and St Benedict’s.
“With a number of sessions left between now and the end of the season, we are hopeful we can continue to accelerate their development heading into the offseason, before welcoming them back for the first full calendar ETEP season later this year.”
On a lovely sunny (but very windy) morning Ealing u16s hosted a touring side from Sligo in Ireland. To ensure everyone had a balanced game we agreed to field our strongest 15s in the 1st half with more blended sides in the 2nd. After a cagey first 15 minutes, as both sides adapted to handling conditions in the strong wind, Ealing finally broke the deadlock and ran in 2 tries in quick succession.
Some lovely slick passing in the backs set up Joe Foley for a wonderful individual try down the left wing. Then from the restart, strong carries from Ealing centres Ollie Isherwood and Will Squire got us quickly back into their 22 before a well-weighted cross-field kick from fly half Alex Coombes allowed Finn Garvie to score in the corner. Another dominant run from man-of-the-match Foley set up field position once more before strong rucking on the Sligo line saw flanker Rory Williamson pick and go for Ealing’s 3rd. The half ended 15-0 with the wind scuppering any chance of conversions.
A renewed Sligo side emerged at half time and, despite some excellent defence from Ealing, crossed the line for their first try following a penalty under Ealing’s posts. Sligo dominated possession for much of the half and despite very committed tackling, notably from Owen Rose, Robert Power, Fionn Egan and Sean Cottrell, ran in 2 more tries from very strong carries. Ultimately the game was sealed though by a moment of individual brilliance from scrum half Egan, collecting the ball from his own chip kick to score under the posts. The resulting conversion from Power giving Ealing the narrow victory.
A wonderful match played in a great spirit, the Sligo lads and coaches were a real credit to their club on and off the field and we hope we can have a return fixture next season.
Minis Tour to Bognor Regis
Hi-de-hi!
Minis are off touring this weekend to take part in the Tigers Challenge in Bognor whilst staying at Butlins!
We certainly won’t be missed in our striking tour playing tops and we look forward to some great rugby, having huge fun and making lots of memories. The whole of Butlins is being taken over by minis rugby so it should be great fun!!