The top two teams in Middlesex Merit Table Division 1, London Japanese and Ealing Trailfinders 1871 2nd XV, met at high noon in Acton ahead of the England versus Australia clash at Twickenham, and the 80 minutes of rugby that followed proved suitably eventful.

In bright but breezy conditions, London Japanese had the benefit of the wind in the first half, but it was 1871 who took an early lead through flanker Carlos Duarte, followed by a try by second row David Vater, marking his 50th appearance in Ealing colours. Captain Harrison Slater, on this occasion playing at full back, converted the second of these tries to establish a 12-point lead. Duarte doubled his tally for the day with less than half an hour gone, with Slater again nailing the conversion, but any thoughts of an easy afternoon were dispelled when Japanese hit back with two converted tries to leave the interval score at 19-14, with Ealing a man down after flanker Niko Laqeretabua drew a yellow card for a high tackle.

Despite Ealing having the advantage of the breeze after the re-start, it was Japanese who were first to score in the second period, bringing the scores equal. After the big Japanese pack had asserted some ascendancy in the set scrums Ealing settled into the task and more than held their own as the game progressed, despite both fly half Liam Mulvihill and inside centre Alex Kritikos, in his last game before moving abroad following his hat-trick heroics at London Cornish, spending 10 minutes on the sideline for a deliberate knock-on and high tackle respectively. Second row Kavan Fitzpatrick touched down to re-establish the lead just a minute after the home team’s equalising try while his team had 13 men on the field but the numerical advantage enabled Japanese to draw level once again at 26-26. With a quarter of an hour remaining a fifth try for Japanese pushed them into the lead for the first time in the match. This setback was accompanied by a second yellow card for Kritikos for another high tackle in the build-up to the try, in a collision in which his nose was broken, with a cumulative red card to add to his pain. Ealing dug deep in a game likely to have a strong bearing on promotion at the end of the season and once again brought the score to parity with a try by recent recruit Aidan Summerfield at scrum half. A high-scoring draw looked the most likely result as the minutes ticked by, but with a yellow card for the home team meaning both sides had 14 on the field for the conclusion loose-head prop Anthony Chihota capped a man-of-the-match debut performance by finishing off a fine try to the delight of his team-mates. Slater nailed a fifth conversion for a personal tally of 10 points.

Ealing 1871 3rds start off a busy weekend of league action with a Friday night fixture against Northolt before the 1sts take on Old Haberdashers and the 2nds aim to stay unbeaten in MMT1 on the short away trip to Old Priorians Saints.