1871 crash out of North-West Middlesex Floodlit Cup

Cup holders Ealing 1871, fielding an experimental team for a cup clash taking place less than 48 hours before an important Herts Middlesex 1 league game, postponed to what was meant to be a free Saturday due to the ravages of Storm Eunice, were second-best throughout to a hard-running OMTs side. OMTs have struggled for numbers, forcing them to drop out of the national leagues at the start of the season, but retain a talented if small squad, and were superior to their hosts in all aspects of the game.

Ealing started poorly and found themselves a try down after 4 minutes, with the OMTs inside centre scoring from close range, and lost flanker Jack Marsh in the process, the first of what proved to be five injuries that left Ealing with only 14 men on the field at the end of the evening. After holding out against another dangerous OMTs attack, Ealing forced a penalty in the opposition half, and young scrum half Flynn Ward used the breeze to put points on the board from 40 metres. Weak tackling and a lack of physicality allowed the OMTs inside centre to add a second score and three further tries followed swiftly, finishing the contest with the score at 33-3 after half an hour. Conceding another three scores in the last 10 minutes of the first period and with the injury toll mounting, 1871 turned around 50-3 down with only pride to play for.

The second period brought something of an upturn of fortunes, with No 8 Chris Joyce leading by example. After two further tries in the third quarter, Ealing mainly managed to apply sustained pressure and drew several penalties in a short time, which on another day might have led to a yellow card, and after Joyce had been forced into touch around the opposition 22 metre line 1871 stole the resulting lineout, and hooker Evan Poole offloaded to Joyce to finish emphatically in the left-hand corner. Strong direct running produced a final OMTs try to end what had generally been a chastening experience for the home players and supporters.