Ealing Trailfinders have made it through to the quarter-finals of the Premiership Rugby Cup, being the only Championship team to do so. They will take on last year’s Premiership winners, Northampton Saints, on Saturday (1 March 2025) in Northampton.
The local team beat London favourites, Saracens, in order to score second in their pool, two points behind other London rival, Harlequins. But it wasn’t all smooth sailing in the knockout rounds, with Ealing succumbing to a staggering 10-32 home defeat against Harlequins in round 5.
Ealing’s most recent, and only meeting with Northampton, came in last year’s Premiership Cup, resulting in a significant 48-22 win in the pool stages. Ealing went on the win the pool and made it to the semi-finals.
Their Cup dreams however were then cut short, after a home match against Leicester Tigers. In a difficult fight for a place in the final Ealing heartbreakingly lost, 21-29.
Both teams so far have had a similar run in the Cup, Ealing winning four out of the six games; Northampton winning five. Ealing’s two losses came against Harlequins, whilst Northampton lost to Leicester Tigers.
In their respective club competitions, the two teams could not be more different. In the Championship, Ealing sit in first place, whilst in the Premiership, Northampton have struggled and currently sit eighth. However, both teams were winners last season.
Interestingly, the women’s teams associated with these two clubs, Trailfinders Women and Loughborough Lightning, may be considered each other’s biggest competition. The two teams had the exact same number of points before the last week of the Premiership Women’s competition, where they took on each other. In the end, it was Loughborough who took the win.
It’s all to play for in Northampton as both teams have great motivation for the game.
We need to get behind our local club and support their effort.
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