With a depleted squad through injury, a trip to the reigning champions and current league leaders was always going to be a tough task, especially with the hosts looking to prove a point following only their second defeat of the season the previous weekend. And so it came to pass, as Ealing ran in 12 tries, only one of which wasn’t converted, in a dominant victory that saw Nottingham muster a solitary score of their own from Jack Dickinson.
It wasn’t until around a quarter of an hour into the match that Nottingham had their first attacking opportunity. However they were already 14 points down at that stage thanks to the first of Tom Collins’s four tries and one from full back Michael Dykes. The Archers couldn’t capitalise though as they knocked on and Ealing won a penalty from the ensuing scrum to clear their lines.
It wasn’t long afterwards that former Nottingham scrum half Michael Stronge got in on the scoring act and then Collins doubled his tally with Craig Willis continuing his 100% record from the tee.
Stronge and Collins then combined on the half hour mark as the former intercepted a pass deep in his own territory, raced up the pitch and released the latter to add his third and Ealing’s fifth.
Nottingham did start to exert some pressure on their opponents’ try line with five minutes remaining in the half but the Trailfinders managed to turn the ball over to avert the danger. That still left time for Reuben Bird-Tulloch to make the score 42-0 at the break.
It wasn’t long after the restart that both Stronge and Bird-Tulloch each got the second of their two tries.
Ten minutes into the second period Nottingham won a penalty for a high tackle and kicked to the corner. The pressure was finally rewarded as Dickinson crossed under the posts to remove the ominous looking zero from the scoreboard, however Gwyn Parks couldn’t convert.
Following a number of substitutions for both sides it wasn’t until the game entered its final quarter that there was any further scoring when Scott Buckley drove over for the hosts. Willis added the extras to maintain his perfect kicking record as his last act before being replaced by George Warboys.
Collins notched his fourth before Nottingham, for the second week running, contrived to reduce themselves to 13 men on the field. Tom Manz departed to the sin bin on 70 minutes for a late hit, then Xavier Valentine joined him a minute later after collapsing an Ealing maul.
Buckley made the numerical advantage count, although the conversion was missed by Warboys, before Craig Hampson rounded out the days’ scoring to make it Ealing Trailfinders 82-5 Nottingham.