If a well-known brewer of Danish lager did Saturdays, it wasn’t this one. It wasn’t even a case of Murphy’s Law. For the most part, all the 95-7 defeat at Ealing did was illustrate the yawning gap between the pro sides and the relative ‘have nots’ below them. If there’s a metaphor for the Championship as it stands, Trailfinders brand-spanking new million pound plus floodlight and pitch combo is on a gradient. Even Bedford’s pitch has a massive slope. Level playing field? Not a bit of it…
For those of you who were at Rosslyn Park back in January 2013, where a decent Cambridge side capitulated to a jaw-dropping 104-5 defeat, you’ll know the difference. This one was more akin to the loss at Bristol Bears in last season’s Prem Cup where, despite missing just 6 tackles in the entirety of the match, the Blood & Sand were on the wrong end of a 98-14 scoreline. Simply, after two very early scores, it was all uphill until half time by which point Ealing, in Grinch green, were 55-nil to the good.
Downhill after the break, Cambridge looked better – but still couldn’t breach the Trailfinders line until super hands from Josh Skelcey put the inevitable Eli Caven over for their solitary score of the afternoon. With negligible possession and territory over the 80-plus minutes, it was a beacon of cheer for the vociferus away support. Louis Grimoldby added the extras – which, annoyingly, took a long time to make it onto the scoreboard and to add injury to insult, Iestyn Rees’ dislocated shoulder was the final straw on a thoroughly wretched day.
If you need more context: next week’s opponents Amphill, shorn of most of their Saracens’ loanees, lost this one 92-nil. Saturday is already looking interesting.
Head Coach Richie Williams summed it up to a degree: “When we kept possession, when we tried to move that point of contact, we looked quite threatening at times. Still, collectively, there’s a lot of work to do as a group. We’ll reflect on that this week and put a plan in place for next weekend.”
Teams
Ealing
Wilson, Harris, Bird-Tulloch, Holgate, Collins, Jones, Williams; Chilvers, Cornish, Davis, De Wee, Lonsdale, Bridge, Ningiza, Smid
Replacements -Terry, Kenny, Whyte, Jurevicius, Uzokwe, Hampson, Willis, Moore
Cambridge
Caven, Skelcey, Hanks, Hema, Glister, Grimoldby, R Dawson; Nearchou, Brownlie, Walker, Bretag Norris, Baxter, Sylvester, Cardew, M Dawson
Replacements – Veness, Scola, Bridges, Benson, Rees, Williams, White, Tarrant
Scorers
Ealing
Tries – Cornish 1, 21, Bridge 3, Williams 14, Dykes 26, Bird-Tulloch 27, Wilson 31, 51, Lonsdale 37, Harris 39, 69, Jurevicius 49, Ningiza 58, Terry 75, 79
Conversions – Jones 1,4, 22, 38, 40 Willis 50, 51,59, 69, 76
Cambridge
Try – Caven 55
Conversion – Grimoldby 56
STATS
Penalties conceded 7-8
Lineouts Won 11-8
Lineouts Lost 0-2
Scrums Won 4-7
Scrums Lost 0-1
Sin Bin 0-1 (Caven YC)