Nottingham 21-34 Ealing Trailfinders (RFU Championship) 14.01.22
Nottingham Rugby were unfortunately beaten on Friday night against league leaders Ealing Trailfinders but there was lots to be proud of for Coach Craig Hammond and his team.
As the mist rolled in from the Trent at the Bay, some questions were raised if the game would even go ahead but with visibility just about good enough to see each end of the pitch, the match went ahead as planned for a 7:45pm kick off.
It didn’t take Ealing long to take the lead, five minutes in all when a kick into the corner allowed Uzoke over with the conversion good for an early seven lead.
A yellow card for the visitors soon after had Nottingham a man up before another left Ealing with thirteen on the pitch and the hosts came back fighting with a Carl Kirwan try, driving over at the maul before Sam Hollingsworth kicked the extras.
Back to full strength, Ealing regained the lead on the half hour when Walker went over, converted by Shingler before another try, four minutes before half time by Linsell, again converted by Shingler, had the away side two scores up.
That was reduced to one, minutes before the break as Williams went over with Hollingsworth kicking to bring the half time score to 14-21.
Despite some early pressure from Nottingham it was Ealing who took the advantage in the second half to score first when Walker went over for another converted try on 51, David Williams however with the immediate response again, a penalty at the restart from the Ealing try had a kick to the corner and Williams touching from the maul to make him the all time leading scorer in the Championship for Nottingham.
With the score locked at 21-28 for long periods in the second half it was very much, next score significant mentality for both sets of players and despite the home team pushing for a leveller it was Ealing who found themselves with a penalty on 69 which Shingler kicked over.
That swayed the tie away from Nottingham who needed two scores to have any chance of victory, the last moments rounded off with another penalty for Ealing to increase their victory.
Despite the loss, Craig Hammond was proud of his players, the Nottingham Head Coach stating “I’m proud of the boys, it was one of our best of the season. We wanted to focus on ourselves and be physical.
“We were pretty tough and we knocked them over but it was frustrating not to get anything out of it. There was a few opportunities for us to get a bonus point or put ourselves in a position to win the game.
“Ealing are a top team and we’ve made some good steps going forward.”
Starting Team: Jack Stapley, David Williams, Charlie Thacker, Morgan Bunting, Harry Graham, Sam Hollingsworth, Michael Stronge, Aniseko Sio, Archie Vanes, Ben Betts, Jose Andrade, Callum Allen, Carl Kirwan, Nathan Tweedy, Scott Hall.
Replacements: Storm Hanekom, Toby Williams, Josh McNulty, Jack Ramshaw, Jacob Wright, Lewis Barrett, Sam Edwards, Theo Manihera.
*Main image @ealingtfrugby action in the mist as Nottingham are beaten by Ealing.
