Nottingham are the first team this season to prevent Ealing Trailfinders from registering a try bonus point but that will only be a crumb of comfort, alongside the losing bonus point, for Craig Hammond’s men as they went toe-to-toe with the league leaders but ultimately fell to a 14-17 defeat.
The visitors went ahead to stay in the 60th minute in a contest where the lead changed hands four times. Ealing largely dominated possession from thereon in, in order to prevent the Archers from inflicting upon them their first defeat of the season.
Nottingham were nearly behind right from the off, however, when they were pinged for not releasing after receiving the kick off but Dan Jones’s penalty hit the left upright.
After both teams enjoyed spells in possession, Jones had another shot at the sticks in the 12th minute which, this time, he duly despatched to put his side’s first three points on the board.
The home side struck back midway through the half when flanker Michael Green, who had already made a couple of penetrating runs, both started and finished off a move inside the Ealing 22 to put the Archers into the lead. Gwyn Parks converted.
Green was typically humble in crediting his team mates for the try: “We’ve put a lot of effort into our forward pack and being able to get around the corner. The boys went forward and created the hole then Will Yarnell picked me off.”
Entering the final five minutes of the half Nottingham had the opportunity to extend their lead when the Trailfinders were penalised in a maul but Parks’s penalty slid wide left.
The Archers were made to rue that miss minutes later when Deago Bailey broke through the defensive line to score Ealing’s first try, which Jones converted, making the half time score Nottingham 7-10 Ealing Trailfinders.
The Archers were immediately back on the attack after the restart, however, and Will Yarnell sniped in from close range to put the hosts back in front. Parks converted once again.
But the pendulum swung back the way of the West Londoners for the final time on the hour mark as replacement hooker Matt Cornish’s first act was to dart over the line off the back of a five metre maul.
Ealing continued to pile on the pressure for the rest of the match but the Nottingham defence stood firm, finally opting to secure the losing bonus point by kicking to touch from within their own in-goal after the 80 minutes had elapsed.
Green hailed the defensive performance: “Hammo’s massive on our defence, we put a lot of work into it. We always put our bodies on the line, week in, week out, and our goal line D was superb tonight. We’ve just got to keep building on that momentum and keep our heads up.”