Ealing Trailfinders fell to a 32-10 loss at the hands of Harlequins in Round Five of the Premiership Rugby Cup on Saturday (8 February 2025).
A try from Jordy Reid and a penalty from Dan Jones could not garner any points from Trailfinders’ encounter with their London rivals.
This leaves Trailfinders 2nd in the pool, travelling to London Scottish with a win needed to qualify for the knock-out rounds.
The game started horribly for the hosts. A fumble from the kick-off gave Quins the ball, and they threw it wide, giving Cameron Anderson the ability to score in the corner with less than two minutes gone.
Trailfinders were shocked yet undeterred from their task and hit right back.
Michael Dykes broke down the left wing, offloading to Frances Moore, who slid for the line but was stopped just short.
A penalty at the ruck gave them a lineout, and the rolling maul gave Reid the easiest score of his life as it went straight through the Harlequins defence.
Quins then showed their Premiership class, as Jarred Evans chipped through and the visitors regathered, finding Ben Waghorn to streak away and score.
After a hectic first 15 minutes, the game then slowed in the wet conditions.
Trailfinders were the next side to threaten but could not convert. The hosts worked up to the 5m line but knocked on and had to come back for an earlier penalty, which Jones duly knocked over.
Both defences pushed the agenda, and as a result, there were no more scores in the first term
Half-Time: Ealing Trailfinders 10-12 Harlequins
The second half was equally as physical, and both sides struggled initially to find their attack flow.
Disaster then struck for Trailfinders as Tobi Wilson was yellow-carded for playing a man without the ball, and Quins was on the front foot as a result.
From the following maul, Sam Riley scored, and the conversion meant Quins stretched their lead to two scores.
Huge shots continued to fly in all over the park from both sides as Trailfinders prevented further scores with a man down.
However, Quins scored again from a rolling maul through Jack Musk to put the game out of sight.
Errors continued to plague Trailfinders as they worked their way up the pitch again but knocked on again to give the visitors an out.
Then Harlequins killed the game with two penalties from Jamie Benson, and Trailfinders were left with nothing despite a tremendous effort.
Emily Bunder from EALING.NEWS caught up with Trailfinders’ Player, Tobi Wilson, after the game.
Tobi, not the result we wanted, but how do you think the team performed today?
“I think one thing we brought today was the energy and we’ve worked on defence a lot recently. So, we had some really good defence in there, the score might not look like it, but in defence we’ve fronted up a lot. They’re a very strong side so we knew it was going to be a challenge. I think the main thing we can point out as a positive today is the energy and defence.
What would you say was the biggest challenge of today’s game?
“I think it’s our ability to keep putting the pressure on. They’re very quick over a breakdown so you’ve got to be speedy, it’s got to be good. You’ve got to be getting in there quickly. And they pin you, they stay in the fight really well and I think on another day we would’ve matched that a lot better. You know, we’ve got a lot left to give. I think we are frustrated by the result and we hope to just come back a bit stronger.”
Full-Time: Ealing Trailfinders 10-32
Ealing Trailfinders:
Tries – Jordy Reid 4
Conversions – Dan Jones 5
Penalties – Dan Jones 36
Yellow Cards – Tobi Wilson 51
Harlequins:
Tries – Cameron Anderson 1, Ben Waghorn 11, Sam Riley 52, Jack Musk 67
Conversions – Jarrod Evans 12 53 68
Penalties – Jarrod Evans 77 80
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